Born on the Piapot Reserve, Saskatchewan, Canada. An honours graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Sainte-Marie eschewed a teaching career in favour of folk-singing. She was signed to Vanguard Records in 1964, following her successful performances at Gerde's Folk City. Her debut "It's My Way" introduced a remarkable compositional and performing talent. Sainte-Marie's impassioned plea for Indian rights, "Now That The Buffalo's Gone", reflected her native-American parentage and was one of several stand out tracks, along with "Cod'ine" and "The Universal Soldier". The latter was recorded, successfully, by Donovan, which helped to introduce her to a wider audience. Her second selection included "Until It's Time For You To Go", a haunting love song that was later recorded by Elvis Presley. However, Sainte-Marie was also a capable interpreter of other writers' material, as her versions of songs by Bukka White, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen showed. Her versatility was also apparent on a superb C&W collection, "I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again," and on Illuminations, which featured an electronic score on several tracks. A campaigner for American Indian rights, Sainte-Marie secured an international hit in 1971 with the theme song to the film SOLDIER BLUE, but subsequent releases failed to capitalize on this success. Temporarily bereft of direction, Sainte-Marie returned to the Indian theme with "Sweet America," but with the collapse of the ABC labels, she retired to raise her family and concentrate on her work for children's foundations. She composed the 1982 Joe Cocker / Jennifer Warnes' hit, "Up Where We Belong" with lyricist Will Jennings, which was featured in the film AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. It was also used in 2001's MOULIN ROUGE. Her welcome return in 1991, following her signing with Chrysalis Records, produced the warmly received "Coincidence And Likely Stories," which displayed her current interest in computer technology. She was married to record producer/arranger Jack Nitzsche from 1982 until his death in 2000. Sainte-Marie was awarded an O.C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) in 1997 for her services to Native Canadians. Other notable screen music credits include THE STRAWBERRY STATEMENT (1970), WINDY CITY (1984), STRIPPER (1986) and WHERE THE SPIRIT LIVES (1989).  Music Best Song 1982: AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN "Up Where We Belong" - Music (w. Jack Nitzsche) 1 nomination, 1 Award