Buffy Sainte-Marie

Biography

Canadian-born American singer-songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and visual artist known especially for her use of music to promote awareness of issues affecting Native Americans. Orphaned as an infant in Canada when her mother, a Plains Cree, died in an auto accident, Sainte-Marie was adopted by an U.S. couple of Mi’kmaq ancestry and raised in Massachusetts & Maine. Her earliest days as a self-taught folk singer were spent shaking up the coffeehouses and consciousnesses in Greenwich Village and helping Joni Mitchell get discovered. Along with her lifelong commitment to and advocacy for Indigenous and Aboriginal people around the world, she has changed the education system from within, and maintained an unwavering passion for social justice, equality and the Earth mixed with her love of sound and songs. Her legacy is that of as an ever-curious, ever-evolving, and technologically pioneering musician, producer, composer and artist — despite her inability to read a note of music.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Top of the Pops

The Virginian

The Merv Griffin Show

Dinah!

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

Austin City Limits

Kraft Music Hall

All Movies (18)

• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On2022 · as Self
• Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble2020 · as Self
• Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World2017 · as Self
• The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code2015 · as Narrator
• Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation2013 · as Self
• Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie2010 · as Self
• Buffy2010 · as Self
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life2006 · as Self
• Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson1999 · as Self - Cree (archive footage)
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Up Where We Belong1996 · as Main Artist
• The Broken Chain1993 · as Gesina 'Grandmother' / Seth's Wife
• Uranium1990 · as Self - Narrator (voice)
• Broken Rainbow1985 · as Translator's Voice (voice)
• Walkabout to Hollywood1980 · as Self
• A Walking Tour of Sesame Street1979 · as Buffy (archive footage) (uncredited)
• As Long as the Rivers Run1971 · as Self
• Festival1967 · as Self
• The Creative Person: The Folksinger1965 · as Self

All TV Shows (11)

• On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America2011 · as Self
• Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child1995 · as The Spirit (voice)
• Austin City Limits1975 · as Self
• Dinah!1974 · as Self
• Then Came Bronson1969 · as Tender Grass
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour1969 · as Self
• Top of the Pops1964 · as Self
• The Merv Griffin Show1962 · as Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962 · as Self
• The Virginian1962 · as Nai'Be
• Kraft Music Hall1958 · as Self