Rita MacNeil

Early years MacNeil was born in Big Pond to Catherine and Neil J. MacNeil. She was born with a cleft lip and palate. MacNeil was the fifth of eight siblings; Her father owned a local store and was a carpenter, and her mother worked in the family store. As a young girl, MacNeil was molested by her great-uncle who lived down the road from the family home. For many years she kept this to herself, only revealing it for the first time in her autobiography, recalling years of sexual abuse and noting that he had done everything short of raping her. She noted that the sexual abuse eventually ended, unsure whether it was because someone had found out about it or that her family moved away from Big Pond. She called it a point in her life that profoundly affected her because it was a traumatic passage out of innocence. 1950s In the mid-1950s MacNeil's parents sold their store and began a big move that would take them to Sydney, then to Toronto. MacNeil's father worked as a carpenter, her mother worked at Eaton's, and her sister Mary worked at a local grocery store. Alcoholism, already a large part of her parents' life, became worse in Toronto, especially with her mother's desire to move back to Cape Breton. After a terrible night of drinking and fighting, MacNeil's older brother Malcolm ('Malkie') arrived in Toronto, and he and Mary convinced their parents that it was time to move back to Cape Breton, which they soon did. 1960s By the summer of 1960 MacNeil was itching to get away to the city to start making a name for herself. She had just finished Grade 11 when she took a summer job in Toronto, along with her friend Carolyn Tobin, working for CNR. Upon returning to Sydney in the fall, MacNeil knew she wanted nothing more than to begin her singing career, and with her parents' support she moved right back to Toronto to get started. By 1964 she had begun taking voice lessons. She had also met a man she described as Sicilian, with jet black hair, brown eyes and very white teeth. She began dating this man although he had told her his parents wanted him to marry a Sicilian woman. She became pregnant in 1965; frightened and unsure of the future, she returned to her parents, who cared for and supported her. On April 15, 1966, MacNeil gave birth to her daughter Laura. She also started struggling with her weight, which fluctuated from 119 to 183 pounds. That summer MacNeil decided to continue working toward her singing goals as she made a life for her daughter. Leaving Laura with her parents, she returned to Toronto and her Eaton's job. That fall she met David Langham. By spring 1967 she had married Langham in a small ceremony that included the bride's sister, the groom's brother, and a minister. In her autobiography she wrote that she wore a royal-blue suit and a pink pillbox hat, while Langham wore a suit. The newlyweds moved Laura into their Toronto home in August 1967. Langham and MacNeil left Toronto in the summer of 1968, purchasing a 78-acre farm in the village of Dundalk. MacNeil's second child, Wade, was born there on April 30, 1970. 1970s MacNeil longed to return to the city and convinced Langham to sell the farm, and in the fall of 1970 they moved to Etobicoke, just outside the City of Toronto. Growing restless in her marriage, MacNeil made one last attempt to save her relationship by moving back to Cape Breton with her family in 1975. It was not enough and she returned to Toronto on her own; for a year she tried to develop her career further while sorting out her feelings. She returned to Cape Breton in spring 1976, became severely depressed, and left again, this time taking her children on her move to Ottawa where, as a single mother, she took jobs cleaning houses and became a welfare recipient. By summer 1979 MacNeil and Langham had filed for divorce. ==Career==