View source for Buffy Sainte-Marie

{{Short description|American musician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Buffy Sainte-Marie <br />{{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}}
| image           = Buffy Ste. Marie - Truth and Reconciliation Commission Concert - Ottawa - 2015 (cropped).JPG
| caption         = Sainte-Marie in 2015
| image_size      =
| birth_name      = Beverley Jean Santamaria
| alias           =
| origin          =
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1941|2|20}}
| birth_place     = [[Stoneham, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date      =
| death_place     =
| instrument      = {{flatlist|
* Vocals
*guitar
*keyboards}}
| genre           = {{flatlist|
* [[Folk music|Folk]]
* [[Rock music|rock]]
* [[country folk]]
}}
| occupation      = {{flatlist|
* Musician
* singer-songwriter
* composer
* record producer
* [[visual art]]ist
* educator
* social activist
* actress
* humanitarian
}}
| years_active    = 1963–2023
| label           = {{flatlist|
* [[Vanguard Records|Vanguard]]
* [[Angel Records|Angel]]/EMI
* [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]/EMI
* [[Island Records|Island]]
* [[MCA Records|MCA]]
* [[Appleseed Recordings|Appleseed]]
* [[Ensign Records|Ensign]]/[[Chrysalis Records|Chrysalis]]/EMI
}}
| associated_acts = [[Pete Seeger]], [[Leonard Cohen]], [[Patrick Sky]]
| website         = {{URL|buffysainte-marie.com}}
}}
'''Buffy Sainte-Marie''', {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (born '''Beverley Jean Santamaria'''; February 20, 1941<ref name="Plainshumanities">{{Cite web|url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.mus.041|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains &#124; SAINTE-MARIE, BUFFY (b. 1941)|website=Plainshumanities.unl.edu|access-date=April 6, 2022|archive-date=May 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525155245/http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.mus.041|url-status=live}}</ref>) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist.<ref>More than 26.5 million copies sold worldwide as per [http://www.creative-native.com/biograp.htm Buffy Saint-Marie biography/profile] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531142444/http://www.creative-native.com/biograp.htm |date=May 31, 2008 }}</ref>
Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism. She has won recognition, awards, and honors for her music as well as her work in education and social activism. In 1983, her co-written song "[[Up Where We Belong]]", for the film ''[[An Officer and a Gentleman]]'', won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] at the [[55th Academy Awards]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manoukian |first=Marina |date=2021-04-20 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie: The First Indigenous Person To Win An Academy Award - Grunge |url=https://www.grunge.com/388211/buffy-sainte-marie-the-first-indigenous-person-to-win-an-academy-award/ |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=Grunge.com |language=en-US |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013222103/https://www.grunge.com/388211/buffy-sainte-marie-the-first-indigenous-person-to-win-an-academy-award/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name = "OscarBSM">{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/events/officer-and-gentleman-ny|title="An Officer and a Gentleman" (NY)|work=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date=September 16, 2014|access-date=4 Nov 2019|quote=Academy Award winner: Music – Original Song ("Up Where We Belong", Music by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie; Lyrics by Will Jennings)|archive-date=June 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603063404/https://www.oscars.org/events/officer-and-gentleman-ny|url-status=live}}</ref> The song also won the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song]] that same year.<ref name="Sheward-1997" />
Since the early{{nbsp}}1960s, Sainte-Marie claimed [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous Canadian]] ancestry, but a 2023 investigation by [[CBC News]] concluded she was born in the United States and is of Italian and English descent.<ref name="cbc2023">{{cite news|title=Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie?|first1=Geoff|last1=Leo|first2=Roxanna|last2=Woloshyn|first3=Linda|last3=Guerriero|date=October 27, 2023|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie|archive-date=October 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027111549/https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie|url-status=live}}</ref> Some Indigenous musicians and organizations have since called for awards she won while [[pretendian|falsely claiming an Indigenous identity]] to be rescinded, including her induction to the [[Canadian Music Hall of Fame]].<ref name="musicians">{{cite web | author=The Canadian Press | title=Indigenous musicians upset over Buffy Sainte-Marie ancestry revelations | website=The Star Phoenix | date=November 5, 2023 | url=https://thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatchewan/it-is-unfair-indigenous-musicians-upset-over-buffy-sainte-marie-ancestry-revelations | access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Colesawards"/><ref name="Francisaptn"/><ref name="CP24 2023 h358"/><ref name="sfchron2023"/>
In her work, she has focused on issues facing Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada.
==Early life and education==
Sainte-Marie was born at the [[New England Sanitarium and Hospital]] in [[Stoneham, Massachusetts]], to parents Albert Santamaria and Winifred Irene Santamaria, {{nee|Kenrick}}.{{r|cbc2023}} The Santamarias were an American couple from [[Wakefield, Massachusetts]]. Her father’s parents were born in [[Italy]] while her mother was of [[English people|English]] ancestry.{{r|cbc2023}} Her family changed their surname from Santamaria to the more French-sounding “Sainte-Marie” due to [[Anti-Italianism|anti-Italian sentiment]] following the [[Second World War]].{{r|cbc2023}}
Sainte-Marie taught herself to play piano and guitar in her childhood and teen years. In the 1950s, Sainte-Marie attended the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]], earning degrees in [[Teachers college|teaching]] and [[Eastern philosophy|Asian philosophy]],<ref name="moonshot">{{cite web|url=http://www.buffysaintemarie.co.uk/page5a0.html |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie UK Biography |website=Buffysaintemarie.co.uk |access-date=2014-04-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019162036/http://www.buffysaintemarie.co.uk/page5a0.html |archive-date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref> where she says she graduated as one of the top ten students of her class.<ref name=teos>{{cite encyclopedia| url=http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/sainte-marie_buffy_beverly_1941-.html| title=Sainte-Marie, Buffy (Beverly) (1941–)| author=Colette P. Simonot| encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan| publisher=University of Regina| access-date=June 25, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924220816/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/sainte-marie_buffy_beverly_1941-.html| archive-date=September 24, 2016| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="profiles">[https://books.google.com/books?id=v1999R6lT2AC&pg=RA1-PA111 45 Profiles in Modern Music] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614221630/https://books.google.com/books?id=v1999R6lT2AC&pg=RA1-PA111 |date=June 14, 2023 }} by E. Churchill and Linda Churchill, pgs. 110–2</ref>
==Career==
===1960–1979: Rise to prominence ===
[[File:Grand Gala du Disque in RAI. Canadese zangeres Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bestanddeelnr 921-1411.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Sainte-Marie performing in the Netherlands in the [[Grand Gala du Disque]] Populaire 1968]]
In college{{when|date=December 2023}} some of her songs, "Ananias", the Indian lament "[[Now That the Buffalo's Gone]]", and "Mayoo Sto Hoon" (a [[Hindi]] [[Bollywood]] song "Mayus To Hoon Waade Se Tere" originally sung by the Indian singer [[Mohammed Rafi]] from the 1960 movie ''[[Barsaat Ki Raat]]'') were already in her repertoire.<ref name="moonshot"/> In her early twenties she toured alone, developing her craft and performing in various concert halls, folk music festivals, and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] communities across the United States, Canada, and abroad. She spent a considerable amount of time in the coffeehouses of downtown Toronto's old [[Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville]] district, and New York City's [[Greenwich Village]] as part of the early to mid-1960s folk scene, often alongside other emerging artists such as [[Leonard Cohen]], [[Neil Young]], and [[Joni Mitchell]], the latter of whom she introduced to [[Elliot Roberts]], who became her manager.<ref name="DirectorsCut"/>
In 1963, recovering from a throat infection, Sainte-Marie became addicted to [[codeine]] and recovering from the experience became the basis of her song "[[Cod'ine]]",<ref name="profiles"/> later recorded by [[Donovan]], [[Janis Joplin]], [[The Charlatans (American band)|the Charlatans]], [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]], [[Man (band)|Man]], [[the Litter]], [[the Leaves]], [[Jimmy Gilmer]], [[the Fireballs]], [[Gram Parsons]],<ref>On ''Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons 1965–1966''</ref> Charles Brutus McClay,<ref>Charles Brutus McClay – "Bottled in France", released 1970 by CBS France, cat.nr.64478</ref> [[the Barracudas]] (spelled "Codeine"),<ref>The Barracudas – "Drop Out with The Barracudas", released 1981 by Zonophone, cat.nr.ZONO103</ref> [[The Golden Horde (band)|the Golden Horde]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/the-golden-horde/codeine-live-london-1991|title=Codeine (live, London, 1991) by The Golden Horde on SoundCloud|website=SoundCloud|date=March 9, 2012|access-date=2014-04-23|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727104018/https://soundcloud.com/the-golden-horde/codeine-live-london-1991|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nicole Atkins]] and [[Courtney Love]]. Also in 1963, she witnessed wounded soldiers returning from the [[Vietnam War]] at a time when the U.S. government was denying involvement<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html|title=Vietnam War 1961–1964|publisher=The History Place|access-date=2014-04-23|archive-date=December 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202015646/http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html|url-status=live}}</ref> – which inspired her protest song "[[Universal Soldier (song)|Universal Soldier]]",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9SiONFzWde0C&pg=PA528 ''Folk and Blues: The Premier Encyclopedia of American Roots Music'']{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by Irwin Stambler, Lyndon Stambler, pp. 528–530</ref> released on her debut album ''[[It's My Way]]'' on [[Vanguard Records]] in 1964, and later became a hit for both Donovan and [[Glen Campbell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19793/m1|title=Show 34 – Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders|website=Digital.library.unt.edu|date=April 18, 2014|access-date=2014-04-23|archive-date=January 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116002200/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19793/m1/|url-status=live}}</ref>
In a 1965 ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine poll of [[disc jockey]]s, Sainte-Marie was voted "Favorite New Female Vocalist" in the folk music category.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=''Billboard'' Annual Disk Jockey Poll – 1965|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=March 27, 1965|page=58|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Billboard+Buffy+Sainte-Marie+1965+folk+singer&pg=PA58|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{efn|Later sources, including Andrea Warner's authorized biography, sometimes misreport that ''Billboard'' named Saint-Marie the "best new artist of 1964".{{sfn|Warner|2018|loc=chap. 6}}}} Some of her songs addressing the mistreatment of Native Americans, such as "[[Now That the Buffalo's Gone]]" (1964) and
"[[Little Wheel Spin and Spin|My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying]]" (1964, included on her 1966 album), created controversy at the time.<ref name="encyc-great-plains">[https://books.google.com/books?id=f1bkxh3NVbIC&pg=PA547 Encyclopedia of the Great Plains] entry by Paula Conlon, University of Oklahoma, edited by David J. Wishart</ref> In 1967, she released ''[[Fire & Fleet & Candlelight]]'', which contained her interpretation of the traditional [[Yorkshire dialect]] song "[[Lyke Wake Dirge]]". In 1968 she released her song "Take My Hand for a While" which was also later recorded by Glen Campbell and at least 13 other artists.<ref>Take My Hand for a While. https://secondhandsongs.com/work/13720/all {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113232349/https://secondhandsongs.com/work/13720/all |date=November 13, 2022 }}</ref>
[[File:Buffy Sainte-Marie 1970.JPG|thumb|right|Sainte-Marie in 1970]]
Sainte-Marie's other well-known songs include "[[Mister Can't You See]]" (a [[Top 40]] U.S. hit in 1972); "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo"; and the theme song of the movie ''[[Soldier Blue]]''. She appeared on [[Pete Seeger]]'s ''[[Rainbow Quest|Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger]]'' in 1965 and several Canadian television productions from the 1960s to the 1990s,<ref name="DirectorsCut"/> and other TV shows such as ''[[American Bandstand]]'', ''[[Soul Train]]'', ''[[The Johnny Cash Show]]'', and ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]''. Sainte-Marie sang the opening song, "[[The Circle Game (song)|The Circle Game]]" (written by [[Joni Mitchell]]),<ref name="DirectorsCut"/> in Stuart Hagmann's film ''[[The Strawberry Statement (film)|The Strawberry Statement]]'' (1970);<ref>{{Cite news |last=Budler |first=Bob |date=1970-08-29 |title=Putting Down the Rock Festivals |pages=10 |work=The Daily Courier |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-courier-putting-down-the-rock/134470552/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101234728/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-courier-putting-down-the-rock/134470552/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the TV show ''[[Then Came Bronson]]'' episode "Mating Dance for Tender Grass" (1970), she sang and portrayed Tender Grass, the episode's titular character.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-02-11 |title=Then Came Bronson |pages=66 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-then-came-bronson/134471351/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101234729/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-then-came-bronson/134471351/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1970 she recorded the album ''[[Illuminations (Buffy Sainte-Marie album)|Illuminations]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-11-15 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'Illuminations' |pages=140 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-buffy-sainte-maries-i/134471588/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101234727/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-buffy-sainte-maries-i/134471588/ |url-status=live }}</ref> an early [[quadraphonic]] vocal album on which she used a [[Buchla]] synthesizer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Alex |date=2022-11-15 |title=How Buffy Sainte-Marie innovated electronic music in the 1960s {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/buffy-sainte-marie-electronic-music-1960s/24281/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=American Masters |language=en-US |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101234727/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/buffy-sainte-marie-electronic-music-1960s/24281/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Sainte-Marie appeared in "The Heritage" episode of ''[[The Virginian (TV series)|The Virginian]]'' which first aired on October 30, 1968, in which she played a Shoshone woman who had been sent to be educated at school.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-buffy-sainte-marie-gets-american-indians-hired-20170919-story.html|title = From the Archives: Cree folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie gets Native Americans hired for 'The Virginian'|website = [[Los Angeles Times]]|date = November 16, 2017|access-date = August 9, 2021|archive-date = August 9, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210809001321/https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-buffy-sainte-marie-gets-american-indians-hired-20170919-story.html|url-status = live}}</ref>
===''Sesame Street''===
Sainte-Marie was hired in 1975 to present Native American programming for children for the first time on ''[[Sesame Street]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wood |first=Mary |date=1975-12-24 |title='Sesame Street' to visit Indians |pages=6 |work=The Cincinnati Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post-sesame-street-to-v/134473866/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102000515/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post-sesame-street-to-v/134473866/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Sainte-Marie wanted to teach the show's young viewers that "Indians still exist".<ref>{{Cite news |date=1996-04-11 |title=Legendary singer here for one night |pages=12 |work=The Abbotsford News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-abbotsford-news-legendary-singer-her/134473539/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102000514/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-abbotsford-news-legendary-singer-her/134473539/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She regularly appeared on ''Sesame Street'' over a five-year period from [[Human characters on Sesame Street|1976 to 1981]]. Sainte-Marie breastfed her first son, Dakota "Cody" Starblanket Wolfchild, during a 1977 episode. Sainte-Marie has suggested that this is the first representation of breastfeeding ever aired on television.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Buffy Sainte-Marie |author2=Ben Kaplan |title='I was the first' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-post-buffy-sainte-marie-as-told/134195883/ |work=National Post |date=21 November 2009 |location=Toronto ON |page=WP3 |access-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028004942/https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-post-buffy-sainte-marie-as-told/134195883/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news
| title= The Short-Lived Normalization of Breastfeeding on Television
| last= Sen
| first= Mayukh
| date= 2018-01-22
| work= Hazlitt
| url= https://hazlitt.net/feature/short-lived-normalization-breastfeeding-television
| access-date= 2018-01-28
| archive-date= July 21, 2020
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200721055252/https://hazlitt.net/feature/short-lived-normalization-breastfeeding-television
| url-status= live
}}</ref>
''Sesame Street'' filmed several shows from her home in Hawaii in 1978.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1994-01-28 |title=Sainte-Marie picks causes carefully |pages=28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-sainte-marie-pick/134474336/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102002621/https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-sainte-marie-pick/134474336/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1979, ''[[Spirit of the Wind]]'', featuring Sainte-Marie's original musical score, including the song "Spirit of the Wind", was shown at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="Spirit of the Wind">{{Cite news |date=1980-11-13 |title='Windwalker' opens Film Festival |pages=25 |work=The Berkeley Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-windwalker-opens/134474537/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102002621/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-windwalker-opens/134474537/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The film is a [[docudrama]] about [[George Attla]], a "World Champion dog sledder". The American Indian Film Festival, which exhibited the film in 1980, recognizes accurate historical and contemporary portrayals of Native Americans.<ref name="Spirit of the Wind" />
===1980–1999: Established career ===
Sainte-Marie began using [[Apple II]] and [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] computers as early as 1981 to record her music and later some of her visual art.<ref name="moonshot" /><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924053236/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_n5_v37/ai_12287153 Names under the sun: Buffy Sainte-Marie – multi-awarded native American singer makes a comeback], ''Los Angeles Business Journal'', May 1992 by Michael Logan</ref> The song "[[Up Where We Belong]]" (which Sainte-Marie co-wrote with lyricist [[Will Jennings]] and musician [[Jack Nitzsche]]) was performed by [[Joe Cocker]] and [[Jennifer Warnes]] for the film ''[[An Officer and a Gentleman]]''. It received the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] in 1982.<ref name = "OscarBSM"/>  On January 29, 1983, Jennings, Nitzsche, and Sainte-Marie won the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song]].<ref name="Sheward-1997">{{Harvnb|Sheward|1997|p=159}}.</ref> They also won the [[BAFTA]] film award for Best Original Song in 1984.<ref>{{Harvnb|British Film Institute|1985|p=282}}.</ref> On the [[Songs of the Century]] list compiled by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] in 2001, the song was listed at number 323.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitburn|2009|p=1041}}.</ref> In 2020, it was included on ''Billboard'' magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Love Song Duets".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Partridge |first=Kenneth |date=February 11, 2020 |title=The 25 Greatest Love Song Duets: Critic's Picks |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8550707/greatest-love-song-duets |access-date=February 12, 2020 |magazine=Billboard |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212065433/https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8550707/greatest-love-song-duets |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 1980s, one of her songs was used as the theme song for the [[CBC Television|CBC]]'s Native series ''[[Spirit Bay]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1983-07-29 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie: Singing not her only talent |pages=28 |work=The Sun Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-times-buffy-sainte-marie-singin/134475542/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102010835/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-times-buffy-sainte-marie-singin/134475542/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She was cast for the [[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]] 1993 telefilm ''The Broken Chain''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hilger |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9PuICgAAQBAJ&pg=PA397 |title=Native Americans in the Movies: Portrayals from Silent Films to the Present |date=2015-10-16 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4002-5 |pages=397–398 |language=en |access-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102052735/https://books.google.com/books?id=9PuICgAAQBAJ&pg=PA397 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1989, she wrote and performed the music for ''[[Where the Spirit Lives]]'', a film about Native children being abducted, forced into residential schools, and expected to give up their Native way of life.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1990-12-09 |title=Where the Spirit Lives |pages=193 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-honolulu-advertiser-where-the-spirit/134486630/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102052735/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-honolulu-advertiser-where-the-spirit/134486630/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Buffy Sainte-Marie July 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Sainte-Marie playing the [[Peterborough Summer Festival of Lights]] on June 24, 2009]]
In 1986, British [[Pop music|pop]] band [[Red Box (band)|Red Box]] covered her song "Qu'Appele Valley, Saskatchewan" (shortened to just "Saskatchewan") on their debut album ''[[The Circle & the Square]]''.<ref>{{cite web | first=Tomas | last=Mureika | title=Review: Red Box – ''The Circle & the Square'' | url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r214993/review|pure_url=yes}} | work=[[Allmusic]] | access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> The song appears on Sainte-Marie's 1976 album ''[[Sweet America]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie - Sweet America Album |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/sweet-america-mw0000847711 |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=AllMusic |language=en |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102052736/https://www.allmusic.com/album/sweet-america-mw0000847711 |url-status=live }}</ref> Sainte-Marie voiced a Cheyenne character, Kate Bighead, in the 1991 made-for-TV movie ''[[Son of the Morning Star]]'', telling the Indian side of the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] where the [[Sioux]] chief, [[Sitting Bull]], defeated Lieutenant Colonel [[George Custer]]. In 1992, after a sixteen-year recording hiatus, Sainte-Marie released the album ''[[Coincidence and Likely Stories]]''.<ref name="Strong-2000"/> Recorded in 1990 at home in Hawaii on her computer and transmitted via modem through the Internet to producer Chris Birkett in London, England,<ref name="DirectorsCut" /> the album included the politically charged songs "The Big Ones Get Away" and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (which mentions [[Leonard Peltier]]), both commenting on the ongoing plight of Native Americans (see also the [[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee|book]] and [[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)|film]] with the same name'')''. Also in 1992, Sainte-Marie appeared in the television film ''[[The Broken Chain]]'' with [[Wes Studi]] and [[Pierce Brosnan]] along with First Nations Bahá'í [[Phil Lucas]].
Her next album followed up in 1996 with ''Up Where We Belong'', an album on which she re-recorded a number of her greatest hits in more unplugged and acoustic versions, including a re-release of "[[Universal Soldier (song)|Universal Soldier]]". Sainte-Marie has exhibited her art at the [[Glenbow Museum]] in Calgary, the [[Winnipeg Art Gallery]], the [[Emily Carr]] Gallery in [[Vancouver]] and the American Indian Arts Museum in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]. In 1995, she provided the voice of the spirit in the magic mirror in HBO's ''[[Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child]]'', which featured a Native American retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. Also in 1995, the [[Indigo Girls]] released two versions of Sainte-Marie's protest song "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" on their album ''[[1200 Curfews]]''.
In 1996, she started the Nihewan Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit fund for American Indian Education devoted to improving Native American students’ participation in learning. The word ''nihewan'' comes from the Cree language and means "talk Cree", which implies "be your culture". Sainte-Marie founded the [[Cradleboard Teaching Project]] in October 1996 using funds from her Nihewan Foundation and with a two-year grant from the [[W. K. Kellogg Foundation]] of [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], with projects across [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]], [[Cree]], [[Ojibwe]], [[Menominee]], [[Coeur d'Alene people|Coeur d'Alene]], [[Navajo]], [[Quinault people|Quinault]], [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiian]], and [[Apache]] communities in eleven states, partnered with a non-Native class of the same grade level for Elementary, [[Middle school|Middle]], and High School grades in the disciplines of Geography, History, Social Studies, Music and Science and produced a multimedia curriculum CD, ''Science: Through Native American Eyes''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cradleboard.org/2000/history.html |title=Cradleboard History |website=Cradleboard.org |access-date=2014-04-23 |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404235022/http://www.cradleboard.org/2000/history.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
===2000–2023: Later work and retirement ===
[[File:2013 Buffy St. Marie.jpg|thumb|Sainte-Marie performing at The Iron Horse in [[Northampton, Massachusetts]], June 2013]]
In 2000, Sainte-Marie gave the commencement address at [[Haskell Indian Nations University]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090211003010/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20000513/ai_n11747327 New generation of Haskell family honored], ''Topeka Capital-Journal'', May 13, 2000 by Andrea Albright</ref> In 2002 she sang at the [[Kennedy Space Center]] for Commander [[John Herrington]], USN, a [[Chickasaw]] and the first Native American astronaut.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mouthbow.org/buffycape.html |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie Kennedy Space Center Performance |date=May 15, 2006 |website= |access-date=April 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515014210/http://www.mouthbow.org/buffycape.html |archive-date=15 May 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2003 she became a spokesperson for the [[UNESCO]] [[UNESCO ASPNet|Associated Schools Project Network]] in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cradleboard.org/press/unesco.html |title=Buffy UNESCO Spokes Person |website=Cradleboard.org |date=February 13, 2003 |access-date=2014-04-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206034704/http://www.cradleboard.org/press/unesco.html |archive-date=February 6, 2012 }}</ref> In 2002, a track written and performed by Sainte-Marie, titled "Lazarus", was sampled by [[Hip hop music|Hip Hop]] producer [[Kanye West]] and performed by [[Cam'Ron]] and Jim Jones of [[The Diplomats]]. The track is called "Dead or Alive". In June 2007, she made a rare U.S. appearance at the [[Clearwater Festival]] in [[Croton-on-Hudson, New York]].
In 2008, a two-CD set titled ''Buffy/Changing Woman/Sweet America: The Mid-1970s Recordings'' was released, compiling the three studio albums that she recorded for [[ABC Records]] and [[MCA Records]] between 1974 and 1976 (after departing her long-time label [[Vanguard Records]]). This was the first re-release of this material. In September 2008, Sainte-Marie made a comeback onto the music scene in Canada with the release of her studio album ''[[Running for the Drum]]''. It was produced by Chris Birkett (producer of her 1992 and 1996 [[best of]] albums). Sessions for this project commenced in 2006 in Sainte-Marie's home studio in Hawaii and in part in France. They continued until spring 2007. {{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} In 2015, Sainte-Marie released the album ''[[Power in the Blood (Buffy Sainte-Marie album)|Power in the Blood]]'' on True North Records. She had a television appearance on May 22, 2015, with ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' to discuss the record and her musical and activist career. On September 21, 2015, ''Power in the Blood'' was named the winner of the [[2015 Polaris Music Prize]].<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/buffy-sainte-marie-wins-polaris-music-prize/article26468115/ "Buffy Sainte-Marie wins Polaris Music Prize"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329145138/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/buffy-sainte-marie-wins-polaris-music-prize/article26468115/ |date=March 29, 2017 }}. ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', September 21, 2015</ref> Also in 2015, [[A Tribe Called Red]] released an electronic remix of Sainte-Marie's song, "Working for the Government".<ref>[http://exclaim.ca/music/article/buffy_sainte-marie-working_for_government_tribe_called_red_remix "Buffy Sainte-Marie: "Working for the Government" (A Tribe Called Red remix)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916103943/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/buffy_sainte-marie-working_for_government_tribe_called_red_remix |date=September 16, 2019 }}. ''[[Exclaim!]]'', July 2, 2015</ref>
In 2016, Sainte-Marie toured North America with Mark Olexson (bass), Anthony King (guitar), Michel Bruyere (drums), and Kibwe Thomas (keyboards).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=28|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie's highly anticipated brand new album Power in the Blood is available in stores now!|website=Buffysainte-marie.com|access-date=January 5, 2018|archive-date=December 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225023532/http://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=28|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2017, she released the single "You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)", a collaboration with fellow Polaris Music Prize laureate, [[Tanya Tagaq]].<ref>[http://exclaim.ca/music/article/buffy_sainte-marie_and_tanya_tagaq_share_polaris_collaboration_recording "Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq Share New Collaboration"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422135822/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/buffy_sainte-marie_and_tanya_tagaq_share_polaris_collaboration_recording |date=April 22, 2019 }}. ''[[Exclaim!]]'', February 21, 2017</ref> The song was inspired by [[George Attla]] who is a champion [[sled dog|dog sled racer]] from Alaska.<ref>[http://rpm.fm/news/queens-indigenous-music-buffy-ste-marie-tanya-tagaq-unite-got-run-spirit-wind/ Queens of Indigenous Music Buffy Ste-Marie and Tanya Tagaq Unite for “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223221542/http://rpm.fm/news/queens-indigenous-music-buffy-ste-marie-tanya-tagaq-unite-got-run-spirit-wind/ |date=December 23, 2019 }}. ''RPM.fm'', February 22, 2017</ref> On November 29, 2019, a 50th-anniversary edition of Sainte-Marie's 1969 album, [[Illuminations (Buffy Sainte-Marie album)|''Illuminations'']], was released on vinyl by [[Concord Records]], the company that bought [[Vanguard Records]], the original publisher of the album.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sainte-Marie |first1=Buffy |title=News |url=http://buffysainte-marie.com/?p=2559 |website=Official Buffy Sainte-Marie Website |access-date=January 20, 2020 |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223202329/http://buffysainte-marie.com/?p=2559 |url-status=live }}</ref> Saint-Marie is the subject of ''[[Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On]]'', a 2022 documentary film by [[Madison Thomas]].<ref>Becca Longmire, [https://etcanada.com/news/919444/buffy-sainte-marie-carry-it-on-to-premiere-at-tiff-2022/ "‘Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On’ To Premiere At TIFF 2022"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820154603/https://etcanada.com/news/919444/buffy-sainte-marie-carry-it-on-to-premiere-at-tiff-2022/ |date=August 20, 2022 }}. ''[[ET Canada]]'', August 10, 2022.</ref> In the same year the [[National Arts Centre]] staged ''[[Buffy Sainte-Marie: Starwalker]]'', a tribute concert of musicians performing Sainte-Marie's songs.<ref>Garret K. Woodward, [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tragically-hip-reunion-documentary-1234603174/ "The Tragically Hip’s Surviving Members Reunite to Pay Tribute to a Canadian Icon, Tease New Projects"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129211323/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tragically-hip-reunion-documentary-1234603174/ |date=November 29, 2022 }}. ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]'', September 30, 2022.</ref> On August 3, 2023, Saint-Marie issued a statement announcing her retirement from live performances, due to health concerns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/buffy-sainte-marie-retirement-1.6927482|title=Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie retiring from live performances due to health concerns|website=[[CBC.ca]]|date=August 3, 2023|access-date=August 5, 2023|archive-date=August 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804165925/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/buffy-sainte-marie-retirement-1.6927482|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Claim of Indigenous identity==
[[File:Buffy Sainte-Marie's official birth certificate.jpg|thumb|Copy of Sainte-Marie's birth certificate issued by the town of Stoneham, Massachusetts, U.S.]]
Sainte-Marie has claimed<ref>{{cite web |url=http://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=10867 |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Biography |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=buffysainte-marie.com |access-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026193944/https://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=10867 |url-status=live }}</ref> that she was born on the [[Piapot 75]] [[Indian reserve|reserve]] in the [[Qu'Appelle Valley]], [[Saskatchewan]], Canada, to [[Cree]] parents.<ref name=teos /><ref>Bennett, Tony, and Valda Blundell. 1995. ''Cultural studies. Vol. 9, no. 1, First peoples: cultures, policies, politics''. London: Routledge. pg. 111; {{ISBN|0-203-98575-3}}</ref><ref name="whois"/> She has also claimed that, at the age of two or three, she was taken from her parents as part of the [[Sixties Scoop]]—a government policy, started in 1951, by which Indigenous children were taken from their families, communities, and cultures for placement with families that were not of First Nations heritage.<ref name=Scoop>{{Cite web |last=Warner |first=Andrea |date=March 22, 2021 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie At 80 |url=https://www.chatelaine.com/living/buffy-sainte-marie-at-80/ |access-date=November 19, 2022 |website=Chatelaine |quote=It is believed that Buffy Sainte-Marie was born in 1941 on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, and taken from her biological parents when she was two or three. She was adopted by a visibly white couple in Massachusetts, though her adoptive mother, Winifred, self-identified as part Mi’kmaq. Sainte-Marie's experience of being adopted out of her culture and placed in a non-Indigenous family by child welfare services is an all-too-familiar story in Canada. This practice was later dubbed the Sixties Scoop, referring to the decade in which it was most prevalent (though it had gone on well before the 1960s and would go on for decades to come). |archive-date=November 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221119201701/https://www.chatelaine.com/living/buffy-sainte-marie-at-80/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="whois" />
Early in her career, various newspapers referred to her as [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]], full-blooded Algonquin, [[Mi'kmaq]], and half-Mi'kmaq.<ref name="whois"/> The first reference to Sainte-Marie being Cree that CBC News could locate during its investigation of her identity came in December 1963, when the ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'' called her a "Cree Indian".<ref name="whois"/> Sainte-Marie reiterated that she has community ties with the Piapot First Nation and that she was adopted as an adult by Chief Emile Piapot and Clara Starblanket.<ref name="whois"/> Emile's great-granddaughter Ntawnis Piapot has corroborated this, saying Sainte-Marie was adopted according to traditional Cree customs over "days and months and years".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Haley |last2=Ridgen |first2=Melissa |title='We claim her, end of story': Buffy Sainte-Marie's Piapot family hurt by allegations |website=[[Global News]] |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/10049385/buffy-sainte-marie-accusations-identity/ |access-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027225007/https://globalnews.ca/news/10049385/buffy-sainte-marie-accusations-identity/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Some members of the Sainte-Marie family had attempted to clarify her European ancestry in the 1960s and 1970s, but the singer threatened them with legal action for doing so.<ref name="whois"/> In December 1964, Arthur Santamaria, Sainte-Marie’s paternal uncle, wrote to the ''Wakefield Daily Item'', which published his editorial that Sainte-Marie "has no Indian blood in her" and "not a bit" of Cree heritage.<ref name="whois"/> Her brother, Alan Sainte-Marie, also wrote to newspapers, including the ''[[Denver Post]]'' in 1972, to clarify that his sister was not born on a reservation, has Caucasian parents, and that "to associate her with the Indian and to accept her as his spokesman is wrong".<ref name="whois"/> Alan Sainte-Marie's daughter Heidi has stated that, in 1975, her father had met Buffy and a PBS producer for ''Sesame Street'' while working as a commercial pilot. She has said that the producer later asked her father if he was Indigenous, because he did not look that he was. Her father clarified that they were of European ancestry and not Indigenous.<ref name="whois"/> On November 7, 1975, Alan Sainte-Marie received a letter from a law firm representing Buffy Sainte-Marie, which said, "We have been advised that you have without provocation disparaged and perhaps defamed Buffy and maliciously interfered with her employment opportunities." The letter also stated that no expense would be spared in pursuing legal remedies.<ref name="whois"/> Included with the law firm letter was a handwritten note from Buffy Sainte-Marie to her brother stating that she would expose him for allegedly sexually abusing her as a child if he continued speaking about her ancestry.<ref name="whois"/> He decided to back off from his letter-writing campaign and a month later on December 9, 1975, Buffy made her first appearance on ''Sesame Street''.<ref name="whois"/>
On 27 October 2023, an investigation by the CBC's ''[[The Fifth Estate (TV program)|The Fifth Estate]]'' television program contradicted Sainte-Marie's career-long claims of Indigenous ancestry. It included interviews with some of her relatives and located her birth certificate which listed her as white and her supposed adopted parents as her birth parents.<ref name="whois">{{Cite news |last1=Leo |first1=Geoff |last2=Woloshyn |first2=Roxanna |last3=Guerriero |first3=Linda |date=October 27, 2023 |title=Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? |work=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie |access-date=November 15, 2023 |archive-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027111549/https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast, Sainte-Marie's 2018 authorized biography states she was "probably born" on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Andrea |last2=Mitchell |first2=Joni |author-link2=Joni Mitchell |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie: the authorized biography |date=2018 |publisher=[[Greystone Books]] |chapter=1 |location=Vancouver ; Berkeley |isbn=978-1771643580}}</ref> and throughout her adult life she claimed she was adopted and does not know where she was born or who her biological parents are.<ref name="whois"/> However, there is no known official record of her adoption.<ref name="whois"/>
On the day before the broadcast of ''The Fifth Estate'', the Descendants of Piapot and Starblanket issued a statement defending Sainte-Marie's ties to the Piapot First Nation, saying that "We claim her as a member of our family and all of our family members are from the Piapot First Nation. To us, that holds far more weight than any paper documentation or colonial record keeping ever could." They also criticized the allegations against Sainte-Marie as being "hurtful, ignorant, colonial — and racist".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/buffy-sainte-marie-indigenous-identity-1.7009303 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie calls Indigenous identity questions hurtful |publisher=[[CBC News]] |access-date=November 15, 2023 |date=October 26, 2023 |agency=The Canadian Press |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121184426/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/buffy-sainte-marie-indigenous-identity-1.7009303 |url-status=live }}</ref>
As part of their reporting, CBC also published Sainte-Marie's official birth certificate. It indicates that she was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, to her white parents, Albert and Winifred Santamaria.{{r|cbc2023}} Her son Cody has stated that she obtained her claims to Native identity through "naturalization" and not by birth.<ref name="Agoyo-2023">{{cite web |last=Agoyo |first=Acee |title=Canadian documentary focuses on 'Icon' who based career on Native identity |website=Indianz.Com |date=October 25, 2023 |url=https://indianz.com/News/2023/10/25/canadian-documentary-focuses-on-icon-who-based-career-on-native-identity/ |access-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026192438/https://indianz.com/News/2023/10/25/canadian-documentary-focuses-on-icon-who-based-career-on-native-identity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To verify Sainte-Marie's early Mi'kmaq identity claims, her younger sister took a DNA test which showed that she had "almost no" Native American ancestry and she says she is genetically related to Sainte-Marie's son, which would not be possible if Sainte-Marie was adopted as she claimed.<ref name="Agoyo-2023"/>
Responding to the CBC News findings, the acting chief of the Piapot First Nation, Ira Lavallee, noted that despite her false claims of being Indigenous, Sainte-Marie remained accepted, saying that "We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate."<ref name=Alexander2023>{{cite web |last=Quon |first=Alexander |title=Acting Piapot chief, other Sask. Indigenous people react to CBC investigation into Buffy Sainte-Marie |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/buffy-sainte-marie-reaction-piapot-1.7011149 |publisher=[[CBC News]] |access-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028031449/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/buffy-sainte-marie-reaction-piapot-1.7011149 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In late November 2023, Sainte-Marie deleted all claims to being Cree and born on Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan from her official website. Lavallee said that Sainte-Marie should take a DNA test to clear up confusions, "That's something that anyone in my community can do and would not have fear of doing because we know who we are and what we are, and it's easily provable through a DNA test. If Buffy did that, that's one thing that could clear all this up."<ref name="DNA test">{{cite web | last=Leo | first=Geoff | title=Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims of Cree ancestry and birth on Sask. First Nation removed from her website | website=CBC | date=November 28, 2023 | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/buffy-sainte-marie-website-1.7042481 | access-date=November 30, 2023}}</ref> Cree author [[Darrel J. McLeod]] said that Sainte-Marie is an honorary member of the Piapot family, but that growing up with a white family allowed her to develop her talent and audience from a young age and that she should "apologize, come clean, stop gaslighting us and find a way to make amends".<ref>{{cite web |last=McLeod |first=Darrel |title=I loved Buffy Saint-Marie. Now, like many Indigenous people, I feel betrayed by her |website=Toronto Star |date=October 27, 2023 |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/i-loved-buffy-saint-marie-now-like-many-indigenous-people-i-feel-betrayed-by-her/article_db162a35-f1fd-53f4-b094-e031f5d40b29.html |access-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029170712/https://www.thestar.com/opinion/i-loved-buffy-saint-marie-now-like-many-indigenous-people-i-feel-betrayed-by-her/article_db162a35-f1fd-53f4-b094-e031f5d40b29.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In late November 2023 following the award of an International Emmy to a documentary film about her life (''[[Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On]]''), Sainte-Marie stated that "My mother told me that I was adopted and that I was Native, but there was no documentation as was common for Indigenous children at the time" adding that "I don’t know where I’m from or who my birth parents are, and I will never know." She also stated "I have never known if my birth certificate was real."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://anishinabeknews.ca/2023/11/24/buffy-sainte-marie-statement-of-response-to-cbcs-the-fifth-estate/ |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie Statement of Response to CBC's The Fifth Estate |publisher=Anishinabek News  |date=24 November 2024 |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/entertainment/this-is-my-life-buffy-sainte-marie-pushes-against-doubts-over-indigenous-ancestry/article_238eff62-7233-5d3d-9535-2d329fe90c64.html |title='This is my life': Buffy Sainte-Marie pushes against doubts over Indigenous ancestry |publisher=The Canadian Press |date=23 November 2023 |first=Kelly Geraldine |last=Malone |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>
==Honors and awards==
===Honorary degrees===
Saint-Marie has been awarded 15 hononary doctorates her lifetime. With regard to the University of Massachusetts, her website states that she was awarded an "Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts" in 1983. However, in an interview published in 2009 she stated that "I also got a teaching degree from the University of Massachusetts and later, a Ph.D in fine arts".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://issuu.com/celinahex/docs/digital_big_3_sm |title=Rebel, Rebel |publisher=[[Bust (magazine)|Bust]] |edition=Oct/Nov 2009 |year=2009 |first=Michael |last=Levine |access-date=8 June 2024}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!University
!Title
!Year Awarded
|-
|[[University of Massachusetts]]
|Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts
|1983{{Citation needed|reason=Claimed on her website|date=April 2024}}
|-
|[[University of Regina]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|1996{{Citation needed|reason=Claimed on her website|date=April 2024}}
|-
|[[Lakehead University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Letters
|2000<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.lakeheadu.ca/about/news-and-events/news/archive/2009/node/13125 |title=Bell Presents Lakehead Celebrates….2009 featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie on September 16 |publisher=Lakehead University |date=18 August 2009 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[University of Saskatchewan]]
|Honorary Doctor of Humanities
|2003<ref name="Sask">{{cite web |url=https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/sainte-marie_buffy_beverly_1941-.php |title=Sainte-Marie, Buffy (Beverly) (1941–) |publisher=University of Saskatchewan |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Emily Carr University of Art and Design|Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design]]
|Honorary Doctor of Letters
|2007<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cradleboard.org/2000/press.html|title=Cradleboard Comments & News Stories|website=Cradleboard.org|access-date=2014-04-23|archive-date=February 3, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203185827/http://www.cradleboard.org/2000/press.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|[[Carleton University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|2008<ref>{{cite web|url=https://carleton.ca/duc/newsroom/archive/2008/june5.html|title=Human rights activists to be honoured at Spring Convocation (news release)|access-date=2008-06-13|date=June 5, 2008|publisher=[[Carleton University]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608010412/http://www.carleton.ca/duc/newsroom/archive/2008/june5.html|archive-date=June 8, 2008}}</ref>
|-
|[[University of Western Ontario]]
|Honorary Doctor of Music
|2009<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.westernu.ca/2009/06/spring-convocation-at-western/ |title=Spring convocation at Western |date=5 June 2009 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Ontario college of art and design|Ontario College of Art and Design]]
|Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts
|2010<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocad.ca/about_ocad/articles/news_releases/20100602_honorary_doctorates_convocation.htm |title=OCAD News Release: OCAD to confer honorary doctorates on Carole Condé, Karl Beveridge, Anita Kunz and Buffy Sainte-Marie |access-date=2010-06-06 |date=June 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103213101/http://www.ocad.ca/about_ocad/articles/news_releases/20100602_honorary_doctorates_convocation.htm |archive-date=January 3, 2011 }}</ref>
|-
|[[Brandon University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Music
|2010<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.brandonu.ca/2011/06/02/1332/ |title=Brandon University's 100th Convocation: Honorary Doctorate Recipients, Valedictorians and Award Winners |publisher=Brandon University |date=2 June 2011 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Wilfrid Laurier University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Letters
|2010<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wlu.ca/about/governance/senate/honorary-degrees.html |title=Honorary Awards |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[University of British Columbia]]
|Honorary Doctor of Letters
|2012<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.ubc.ca/2012/05/22/former-pm-joe-clark-artist-buffy-sainte-marie-and-others-honoured-during-ubcs-vancouver-campus-grad-ceremonies-starting-may-23/ |title=Former PM Joe Clark, artist Buffy Sainte-Marie and others honoured during UBC's Vancouver campus grad ceremonies starting May 23 |date=22 May 2012 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |date=2 July 2012 |title=Dr. Buffy Sainte-Marie - UBC Vancouver 2012 Spring Honorary Degree Recipient |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfiLpL1AGc |access-date=8 April 2024 |publisher=YouTube}}</ref>
|-
|[[Vancouver Island University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|2016<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.viu.ca/deputy-minister-university-champion-announced-viu |title=Deputy Minister University Champion Announced for VIU |date=15 December 2016 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[University of Lethbridge]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|2017<ref>{{cite news |url=https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2017/10/15/sainte-marie-and-little-bear-honoured-at-u-of-l-fall-convocation/ |title=Sainte-Marie and Little Bear honoured at U of L fall convocation |publisher=Lethbridge News Now |date=15 October 2017 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Dalhousie University]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|2018<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dal.ca/news/2018/04/20/buffy-sainte-marie-inspires-big-crowd-after-receiving-honorary-d.html |title=Buffy Sainte‑Marie inspires at Belong Forum after receiving honorary degree |publisher=Dalhousie University |date=19 April 2018 |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[University of Toronto]]
|Honorary Doctor of Laws
|2019<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/singer-activist-philanthropist-buffy-sainte-marie-receives-u-t-honorary-degree|title=Singer, activist, philanthropist Buffy Sainte-Marie receives U of T honorary degree|website=University of Toronto News|language=en|access-date=2019-06-19|archive-date=June 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617165902/https://www.utoronto.ca/news/singer-activist-philanthropist-buffy-sainte-marie-receives-u-t-honorary-degree|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}
===Personal awards===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Award
!Year Awarded
!Note
|-
|YWCA Prince Albert’s Women of Distinction Award
|1994{{Citation needed|reason=Listed on her website|date=April 2024}}
|
|-
|American Indian College Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award
|1998{{Citation needed|reason=Listed on her website|date=April 2024}}
|
|-
|[[Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal]]
|2002<ref name="GG-Honours">{{cite web |url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients |title=Honours - Recipients |date=June 11, 2018 |publisher=The Governor General of Canada |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal]]
|2012<ref name="GG-Honours"/>
|
|-
|[[Juno Humanitarian Award]]
|2017<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.3941076/buffy-sainte-marie-honoured-with-humanitarian-award-calls-for-new-generation-of-protest-songs-1.3941081 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie honoured with humanitarian award, calls for new generation of protest songs |publisher=CBC |date=18 January 2017 |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>
|Awarded as the ''Allan Waters Humanitarian Award''
|-
|Companion of the [[Order of Canada]]
|2019<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-2019-order-of-canada-appointees-have-made-their-mark-on-all-aspects-of/ |title=2019 Order of Canada appointees have made their mark on all aspects of Canadian society |publisher=The Globe and Mail |date=27 June 2019 |first=Matthew |last=Lapierre |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>
|Promotion from Officer awarded in 1997<ref name="The Governor General of Canada 1997 z134">{{cite web | title=Ms. Buffy Sainte-Marie | website=The Governor General of Canada | date=1997-04-17 | url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-4913 | access-date=2023-12-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductees/1998/buffy-sainte-marie|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie|website=Canadaswalkoffame.com|access-date=January 5, 2018|archive-date=December 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216034442/https://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductees/1998/buffy-sainte-marie|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|PARO Inaugural Women Voice Award
|2019<ref>{{cite news |url=https://anishinabeknews.ca/2019/11/21/singer-songwriter-buffy-sainte-marie-recognized-at-parobiz-25th-event-and-awards-gala/ |title=Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie recognized at PAROBiz 25th Event and Awards Gala |publisher=Anishinabek News |date=21 November 2019 |first=Rick |last=Garrick |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[Canadian Music Week]] ''Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award''
|2020<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cmw.net/v2/cmw-content/awards-news/iconic-indigenous-musician-and-activist-buffy-sainte-marie-to-receive-allan-slaight-humanitarian-spirit-award/199030/ |title=Iconic Indigenous Musician and Activist Buffy Sainte-Marie To Receive Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award |publisher=Canadian Music Week |date=11 April 2020 |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[Toronto International Film Festival|TIFF]] ''Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media''
|2022<ref>{{cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2022/09/toronto-film-festival-names-buffy-sainte-marie-as-tribute-award-honoree-1235109613/ |title=Toronto Film Festival Names Buffy Sainte-Marie As Tribute Award Honoree, Unveils Musical Guest & Presenter Lineup For 2022 Gala |publisher=Deadline |date=7 December 2022 |first=Matt |last=Grobar |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D36HeOcusmU |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie Acceptance Speech TIFF TRIBUTE AWARDS PRESENTED BY BVLGARI 2022 |publisher=TIFF |via=YouTube |date=12 September 2022 |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>
|
|}
===Performance awards===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Award
!Year Awarded
!Note
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] for "[[Up Where We Belong]]"
|1983<ref name = "OscarBSM"/>
|Joint winner with [[Jack Nitzsche]] and [[Will Jennings]]
|-
|Canadian Juno Awards Hall of Fame Inductee
|1994<ref>{{Cite news |date=1994-11-04 |title=Sainte-Marie to enter Canadian music's Hall of Fame |pages=55 |work=Star-Phoenix |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-sainte-marie-to-enter-canad/134541226/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |archive-date=November 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103050419/https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-sainte-marie-to-enter-canad/134541226/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[Indigenous Music Awards|Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards]] Lifetime Achievement Award
|2008<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/up-where-she-belongs-1.719353 |title=Up where she belongs |publisher=CBC |date=28 November 2008 |first=Susan |last=Noakes |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>
|Awards now known as [[Indigenous Music Awards]]
|-
|[[Governor General's Performing Arts Award]]
|2010<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2010/04/29/buffy_saintemarie_to_get_governor_generals_award.html |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie to get Governor General's Award" |publisher=Toronto Star |first=Jennifer |last=Ditchburn |date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905094929/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2010/04/29/buffy_saintemarie_to_get_governor_generals_award.html |archive-date=5 September 2017}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[2015 Polaris Music Prize|Polaris Music Prize]]
|2015<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/polaris-music-prize-ceremony-2015-1.3237137 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie wins Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album of 2015 |publisher=CBC |date=21 September 2015 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/22/buffy-sainte-marie-drake-win-polaris-music-prize |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie beats Drake to win Polaris music prize |work=The Guardian |date=22 September 2015 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>
|for ''Power in the Blood''
|-
|[[Juno Awards of 2018|Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year]]
|2018<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/news/junos-2018-the-complete-list-of-winners-so-far-1.4579405 |title=Junos 2018: the complete list of winners |website=Cbc.ca |access-date=2018-03-26 |language=en-US |archive-date=April 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422124628/https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/news/junos-2018-the-complete-list-of-winners-so-far-1.4579405 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| for ''Medicine Songs''
|-
|[[Indigenous Music Awards]] for Best Folk Album
|2018<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indigenousmusicawards.com/nominees |title=Winners and Nominees – Indigenous Music Awards |website=Indigenousmusicawards.com |access-date=December 16, 2018 |archive-date=October 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004140704/https://www.indigenousmusicawards.com/nominees |url-status=live}}</ref>
| for ''Medicine Songs''
|-
|[[Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame]] Inductee
|2019<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.straight.com/music/1222286/photos-socan-awards-go-bcs-chad-kroeger-carly-rae-jepsen-tavish-crowe-and-josh-ramsay |title=Photos: SOCAN Awards go to B.C.'s Chad Kroeger, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tavish Crowe, and Josh Ramsay |publisher=Georgia Straight |date=2 April 2019 |first=Charlie |last=Smith |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cshf.ca/songwriter/buffy-sainte-marie/ |title= Buffy Sainte-Marie |publisher=Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame |year=2019 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/indigenous-group-wants-buffy-sainte-marie-to-lose-2018-juno-over-ancestry-doubts/article_78a8c2dd-7970-5596-9973-a228cd80a273.html |title=Indigenous group wants Buffy Sainte-Marie to lose 2018 Juno over ancestry doubts |publisher=Toronto Star |date=30 October 2023 |first=Brittany |last=Hobson |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[2020 Polaris Music Prize|Polaris Heritage Prize]] for ''It's My Way!''
|2020<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2020/11/16/2020-slaight-family-polaris-heritage-prize-winners-named |title=2020 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize Winners Named |date=16 November 2020 |publisher=FYI Music News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205020133/https://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2020/11/16/2020-slaight-family-polaris-heritage-prize-winners-named |archive-date=5 December 2020 }}</ref>
|
|}
===Other===
* In 1979, the [[Supersisters]] trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Sainte-Marie's name and picture.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wulf|first=Steve|url=https://www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/story/_/id/12535055/original-roster|title=Supersisters: Original Roster|website=ESPN|date=2015-03-23|access-date=2015-06-04|archive-date=June 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605002131/http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/12535055/original-roster|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Canada Post stamp of Sainte-Marie in 2021<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/blogs/personal/perspectives/stamp-celebrates-buffy-sainte-marie/|title=New stamp honours renowned singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie – Magazine|website=Canadapost-postescanada.ca|date=November 18, 2021|access-date=January 9, 2022|archive-date=January 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118192702/https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/blogs/personal/perspectives/stamp-celebrates-buffy-sainte-marie/|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Award-related reactions following ancestry controversy===
In 2023, Buffy Sainte-Marie's false claims to an Indigenous identity were revealed by ''[[The Fifth Estate (TV program)|The Fifth Estate]]''. Since then, there have been calls to rescind awards given to Sainte-Marie that were meant for Indigenous people.<ref name="sfchron2023">{{Cite news |last=Keeler |first=Jacqueline |author-link=Jacqueline Keeler |date=2023-11-25 |title=She's an Indigenous icon and the first Native person to win an Oscar. Is she actually Italian American? |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/buffy-sainte-marie-pretendian-native-canada-keeler-18508936.php |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> Indigenous musicians who lost to Sainte-Marie have expressed their disappointment. Issiqut Anguk, sister of singer [[Kelly Fraser]] who lost 2018 [[Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year]] to her, wrote that Fraser "respected Buffy so much and it hurts to hear that maybe, just maybe it would've changed Kelly's life if she won the Juno award and Buffy didn't."<ref name="sfchron2023"/> The Indigenous Women's Collective expressed dismay at Sainte-Marie's winning a 2023 [[International Emmy Award]] for her documentary ''Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On'' and have asked the Juno Awards to revisit the 2018 category to "explore ways of righting a past wrong. All Indigenous artists in this 2018 category should be reconsidered for this rightful honour."<ref name="CP24 2023 h358">{{cite web | title='Slap in the face': Indigenous women's group reacts to Emmy win for Sainte-Marie film | website=CP24 | date=November 21, 2023 | url=https://www.cp24.com/slap-in-the-face-indigenous-women-s-group-reacts-to-emmy-win-for-sainte-marie-film-1.6654746 | access-date=November 25, 2023 | archive-date=November 22, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122061848/https://www.cp24.com/slap-in-the-face-indigenous-women-s-group-reacts-to-emmy-win-for-sainte-marie-film-1.6654746 | url-status=live }}</ref> Tim Johnson, the former associate director of the [[National Museum of the American Indian]] says her Juno awards should be rescinded and the Indigenous musicians who lost against Sainte-Marie should be considered her victims.<ref name="Colesawards">{{cite web | last=Coles | first=Penny | title=Buffy Sainte-Marie's awards should be rescinded, says Indigenous advocate | website=Niagara-on-the-Lake Local | date=November 9, 2023 | url=https://www.notllocal.com/local-news/buffy-sainte-maries-awards-should-be-rescinded-says-indigenous-advocate-7807592 | access-date=November 25, 2023 | archive-date=November 25, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125163644/https://www.notllocal.com/local-news/buffy-sainte-maries-awards-should-be-rescinded-says-indigenous-advocate-7807592 | url-status=live }}</ref> Rhonda Head, an award-winning opera singer from the [[Opaskwayak Cree Nation]] says, "She won awards that were an accolade, that were meant for Indigenous musicians and that's what really hurts me the most. I would like to see that her awards be taken away forever, for her not being truthful and taking up space."<ref name="Francisaptn">{{cite web | last=Francis | first=Annette | title=Sainte-Marie ancestry story brought musician to tears | website=APTN News | date=November 2, 2023 | url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/nation-to-nation/buffy-sainte-marie-story-brought-tears-to-the-eyes-of-indigenous-musician/ | access-date=November 25, 2023}}</ref>
On 8 November 2023, the University of British Columbia First Nations House of Learning issued a statement explaining that, in light of the ancestry issues of Buffy Sainte-Marie, they were deciding on the next steps regarding the honorary degree UBC had awarded Sainte-Marie in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://indigenous.ubc.ca/2023/11/08/statement-from-ubc-first-nations-house-of-learning-leadership/ |title=Statement from UBC First Nations House of Learning Leadership |publisher=University of British Columbia |date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109053132/https://indigenous.ubc.ca/2023/11/08/statement-from-ubc-first-nations-house-of-learning-leadership/ |archive-date=9 November 2023}}</ref> The university removed that statement from their website at some point after April 2024 with no further explanation on the status of the honorary degree.
==Personal life==
In 1964, while on a trip to the [[Piapot First Nation|Piapot Cree]] reserve (in Canada) for a [[powwow]], she was adopted by the youngest son of Chief [[Piapot]], Emile Piapot, and his wife, Clara Starblanket Piapot in accordance with [[Cree Nation]] tradition.<ref name="DirectorsCut">''Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life (Director's Cut)'' DVD, distributed by Filmwest Associates of Canada and the US, [http://www.filmwest.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630112629/http://www.filmwest.com/|date=June 30, 2019}}, 2006</ref>
In 1968, Sainte-Marie married a [[Hawaiian people|Hawaiian]] [[surfing]] instructor, Dewain Bugbee; the couple divorced in 1971. She then married Sheldon Wolfchild, from [[Minnesota]], in 1975; together, they have a son, Dakota "Cody" Starblanket Wolfchild. They later divorced. She then married [[Jack Nitzsche]], her co-writer on "[[Up Where We Belong]]", on March 19, 1982; they were married for seven years.
Although not a practitioner herself, Sainte-Marie became an active friend of the [[Bahá'í Faith|Bahá'í faith]], appearing at concerts for and conferences and conventions surrounding the religion. In 1992, she appeared in the musical event prelude to the [[Baháʼí World Congress]], a double concert, ''"Live Unity: The Sound of the World"'' (1992) with video broadcast and documentary.<ref>Baháʼís and the Arts: Language of the Heart {{Cite web |url=http://info.bahai.org/article-1-9-2-2.html |title=The Bahá'í World Volumes &#124; Bahá'í Reference Library |access-date=June 25, 2007 |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026122949/http://info.bahai.org/article-1-9-2-2.html |url-status=bot: unknown }} by Ann Boyles, also published in 1994–95 edition of ''The Baháʼí World'', pp. 243–72.</ref> In the video documentary of the event Sainte-Marie is seen on the ''[[Dini Petty]] Show'' explaining the Bahá'í teaching of [[Progressive revelation (Bahá'í)|progressive revelation]].<ref>''Live Unity: Sound of the World'' A Concert Documentary, VCR Video, distributed by Unity Arts Inc., of Canada, © Live Unity Enterprises, Inc., 1992.</ref> She also appears in the 1985 video ''Mona With The Children'' by Douglas John Cameron.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEyaGAFvFKQ |title=Mona With The Children |date=1985 |publisher=True North Records |last=Cameron |first=Douglas John |type=Video |via=youtube |access-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101220000/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEyaGAFvFKQ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, while she supports a universal sense of religion, she does not subscribe to any particular religion. "I gave a lot of support to Bahá'í people in the '80s and '90s … Bahá'í people, as people of all religions, is something I'm attracted to … I don't belong to any religion. … I have a huge religious faith or spiritual faith but I feel as though religion … is the first thing that [[racketeer]]s exploit. … But that doesn't turn me against religion …<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Buffy Sainte-Marie; interviewed by Jon Faine|title=''The Conversation Hour''|medium=radio|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=March 3, 2015|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2015/03/03/4190526.htm?&date=201503|access-date=April 11, 2015|archive-date=January 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101091217/http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2015/03/03/4190526.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|16:15–18:00min}}
Sainte-Marie applied for [[Canadian citizenship]] through her Cree lawyer, [[Delia Opekokew]], in 1980.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fennario |first=Tom |date=October 26, 2023 |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie speaks out regarding questions of Cree ancestry |work=APTN News |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/buffy-sainte-marie-speaks-out-regarding-questions-of-cree-ancestry/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101122342/https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/buffy-sainte-marie-speaks-out-regarding-questions-of-cree-ancestry/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017, she stated that she does not have a Canadian passport and is a [[US citizen]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Buffy Sainte Marie | website=The Rogue Folk Club | url=https://www.roguefolk.bc.ca/gallery/articles/buffysaintemarie | access-date=November 6, 2023 | archive-date=November 6, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106033206/https://www.roguefolk.bc.ca/gallery/articles/buffysaintemarie | url-status=live }}</ref>
==Discography==
<!--recent entries need to be confirmed...please clean up if you can...thanks-->
===Albums===
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of albums, with selected chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album<ref name="Strong-2000"/>
! scope="col" colspan="4"| Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Canadian Albums Chart|CAN]]<br /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.2115&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.2115.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.2115|title=''RPM''100 Albums (CDs & Cassettes): May 2, 1992|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=February 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204102939/https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.2115&URLjpg=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f4/nlc008388.2115.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.2115|url-status=live}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Kent Music Report|AUS]]<br /><ref name="aus">{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=263}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[UK Albums Chart|UK]]<br /><ref name="Roberts-2006"/>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Billboard 200|US]]<br /><ref name="US200">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/buffy-sainte-marie/chart-history/tlp/|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie Chart History: ''Billboard'' 200|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029010813/https://www.billboard.com/artist/buffy-sainte-marie/chart-history/tlp/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| 1964
| ''[[It's My Way!]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1965
| ''[[Many a Mile]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1966
| ''[[Little Wheel Spin and Spin]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 97
|-
| 1967
| ''[[Fire & Fleet & Candlelight]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 126
|-
| 1968
| ''[[I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 171
|-
| 1969
| ''[[Illuminations (Buffy Sainte-Marie album)|Illuminations]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1971
| ''[[She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 47
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 182
|-
| 1972
| ''[[Moonshot (album)|Moonshot]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 134
|-
| 1973
| ''[[Quiet Places]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
|1974
| ''[[Buffy (album)|Buffy]]''
| style="text-align:center;" | —
| style="text-align:center;" | —
| style="text-align:center;" | —
| style="text-align:center;" | —
|-
| 1975
| ''[[Changing Woman (album)|Changing Woman]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1976
| ''[[Sweet America]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1992
| ''[[Coincidence and Likely Stories]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| 63
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 39
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 1996
| ''Up Where We Belong''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 2008
| ''[[Running for the Drum]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
|2015
| ''[[Power in the Blood (Buffy Sainte-Marie album)|Power in the Blood]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
|2017
| ''[[Medicine Songs]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of collaboration albums
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Album
|-
| 1985
| ''Attla: A Motion Picture Soundtrack Album'' (with [[William Ackerman]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Attla: A Motion Picture Soundtrack Album |url=https://www.discogs.com/Buffy-Sainte-Marie-William-Ackerman-Attla-A-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack-Album/master/1539265e |website=Discogs}}</ref>
|}
===Compilation albums===
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of compilation albums
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album
! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak&nbsp;chart&nbsp;positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Billboard 200|US]]<ref name="US200"/>
|-
| 1970
| ''[[The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| 142
|-
| 1971
| ''[[The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie Vol. 2]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
|1974
|''[[Native North American Child: An Odyssey]]''
| style="text-align:center;" | —
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1976
| ''Indian Girl'' (European release)
| style="text-align:center;" | —
|-
| ''A Golden Hour of the Best Of'' (UK release)
| style="text-align:center;" | —
|-
| 2003
| ''The Best of the Vanguard Years''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 2008
| ''Buffy/Changing Woman/Sweet America''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| 2010
| ''[[The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures – The Mid-70's Recordings]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|}
===Singles===
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of singles, with selected chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Single<ref name="Strong-2000">{{cite book | first= Martin C. | last= Strong | year= 2000 | title= The Great Rock Discography | edition=  5th | publisher= Mojo Books | location= Edinburgh | pages= 840–841 | isbn= 1-84195-017-3}}</ref>
! scope="col" colspan="5"| Peak chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[RPM (magazine)|CAN]]<br /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/list.aspx?OCRText=Buffy+Sainte-Marie&ChartEn=Top+Singles&|title=RPM Weekly – Buffy Sainte-Marie on Top Singles|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=November 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125163643/https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/list.aspx?OCRText=Buffy+Sainte-Marie&ChartEn=Top+Singles&|url-status=live}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[RPM (magazine)|CAN AC]]<br /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/list.aspx?OCRText=Buffy+Sainte-Marie&ChartEn=Adult+Contemporary&|title=RPM Weekly – Buffy Sainte-Marie on Adult Contemporary|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=November 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125163648/https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/list.aspx?OCRText=Buffy+Sainte-Marie&ChartEn=Adult+Contemporary&|url-status=live}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Kent Music Report|AUS]]<br /><ref name=aus/>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<br /><ref name="Roberts-2006">{{cite book| first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 479}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%"| [[Billboard Hot 100|US]]<br /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/buffy-sainte-marie/chart-history/hsi/|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie Chart History: ''Billboard'' Hot 100|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029010810/https://www.billboard.com/artist/buffy-sainte-marie/chart-history/hsi/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|1965
|"[[Until It's Time for You to Go]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|''Many a Mile''
|-
|1970
|"[[The Circle Game (song)|The Circle Game]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|76
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|83
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|109
|''Fire & Fleet & Candlelight''
|-
|rowspan="2"|1971
|"[[Soldier Blue]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|7
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|''She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina''
|-
|"[[I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again (song)|I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|86
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|34
| style="text-align:center;"|98
|''I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again''
|-
|rowspan="2"|1972
|"[[Mister Can't You See]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|21
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|70
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|38
|rowspan="2"|''Moonshot''
|-
|"He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|98
|-
|1973
|"I Wanna Hold Your Hand Forever"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie – I Wanna Hold Your Hand Forever|url=https://www.discogs.com/Buffy-Sainte-Marie-I-Wanna-Hold-Your-Hand-Forever/master/1591663|access-date=2021-01-11|website=Discogs|date=September 29, 1973|language=en|archive-date=April 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414225011/https://www.discogs.com/Buffy-Sainte-Marie-I-Wanna-Hold-Your-Hand-Forever/master/1591663|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|N/A
|-
|1974
|"Waves"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|27
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|''Buffy''
|-
|rowspan="2"|1992
|"The Big Ones Get Away"
| style="text-align:center;"|24
| style="text-align:center;"|14
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|39
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|rowspan="2"|''Coincidence & Likely Stories''
|-
|"Fallen Angels"
| style="text-align:center;"|50
| style="text-align:center;"|26
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|57
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|1996
|"[[Until It's Time for You to Go]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|54
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|''Up Where We Belong''
|-
|2008
|"No No Keshagesh"
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|''Running for the Drum''
|-
|2017
|"You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)"<br />(featuring [[Tanya Tagaq]])
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| ''Medicine Songs''
|}
===Soundtrack appearances===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Song(s)
! scope="col"| Album
|-
| 1970
|"Dyed, Dead, Red" and "Hashishin" <small>with Ry Cooder</small>
| ''[[Performance (soundtrack)|Performance]]''
|-
|2019
|"The Circle Game"
| ''[[Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (music)|Once Upon A Time In Hollywood]]''
|}
==See also==
{{Portalbar|Biography|Music|Canada}}
*[[Music of Canada]]
*[[Pretendian]]
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Bataille |first1=Gretchen |last2=Lisa |first2=Laurie |title=Native American women: a biographical dictionary |date=2005 |publisher=New York : Taylor & Francis e-Library |isbn=9781135955878 |edition= eBook : Document : Biography: English : Second |oclc=909403141 }}
*{{citation |author=British Film Institute |editor1-last=Ellis |editor1-first=Mundy |title=BFI Film and Television Yearbook 85 |publisher=Concert Publications |date=1985 |isbn=0851701833}}
*{{citation |last=Sheward |first=David |title=The Big Book of Show Business Awards |year=1997 |publisher=Billboard Books |isbn=0-8230-7630-X |url=https://archive.org/details/bigbookofshowbus00shew}}
*{{cite book |last1=Stonechild |first=Blair |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie: It's My Way |date=2012 |publisher=Fifth House Publishers |isbn=978-1897252789 |language=en |url=https://archive.org/details/buffysaintemarie0000ston/}}
*{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Andrea |title=Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography |date=2018 |publisher=[[Greystone Books]] |location=Vancouver |isbn=978-1-77164-359-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2JmDwAAQBAJ |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}
*{{citation |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |title=Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2008 |year=2009 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=978-0898201802}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Buffy Sainte-Marie}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{official website}}
*{{AllMusic}}
*{{YouTube|eMsqCWNCUc4|Investigating Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims to Indigenous ancestry - The Fifth Estate}}
*Short documentary [http://www.nfb.ca/film/buffy ''Buffy''] (2010) at the [[National Film Board of Canada]]
* [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/buffy-sainte-marie Article at ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'']
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/12/democracy_now_special_an_hour_of Legendary Native American Singer-Songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie] – video report by ''[[Democracy Now!]]''
* {{Discogs artist}}
*{{IMDb name|0756763}}
*{{MusicBrainz artist}}
*{{Pop Chronicles|19|5}}
{{Buffy Sainte-Marie}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Buffy Sainte-Marie
| list =
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalSong 1981–1990}}
{{Canadian Music Hall of Fame}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song}}
{{Polaris Music Prize}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Marie, Buffy}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:People from Wakefield, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century women guitarists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century women guitarists]]
[[Category:American women in electronic music]]
[[Category:American women singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Angel Records artists]]
[[Category:Chrysalis Records artists]]
[[Category:MCA Records artists]]
[[Category:Ensign Records artists]]
[[Category:Vanguard Records artists]]
[[Category:Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songwriters]]
[[Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Canadian Screen Award winners]]
[[Category:Golden Globe Award–winning musicians]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award winners]]
[[Category:Indspire Awards]]
[[Category:Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year winners]]
[[Category:Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year winners]]
[[Category:Polaris Music Prize winners]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:American women digital artists]]
[[Category:American feminist musicians]]
[[Category:American women activists]]
[[Category:Activists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American people who self-identify as being of Cree descent]]
[[Category:American people who self-identify as being of First Nations descent]]
[[Category:Piapot Cree Nation]]
[[Category:Activists for Native American rights]]
[[Category:Sixties Scoop in popular culture]]
[[Category:Racial impostors]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in music]]