The live and advocacy of Buffy Sainte-Marie is documented in the movie Buffy Sainte-Marie:A Multimedia Life.
Buffy Sainte-Marie is an interesting person. She currently lives in Hawaii. However she was born on the Piapot Reserve to Cree parents in 1941. The Canadian government took her from her birth parents and she was adopted by a family that lived in Massachusetts and summered in Maine. It wasn't until she was 24 that she would return to the reservation. She was adopted into a Native American family who taught her of her roots and traditions.
Buffy Sainte-Marie has many skills. She is accomplished on the piano (self taught) and guitar. She was the first Native American to win an Oscar for her song "Up Where We Belong" which was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warmes and was the theme song of the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman." She was also the first person shown on television breast feeding. This was on Sesame Street with a curious Big Bird. She is also an artist and was one of the first to use the computer to enhance her art.
She also was one of the first to send audio files via the internet as she was living in Hawaii and collaborating with an artist in England.
She is a peace advocate and the author of the song, "Universal Soldier." She is also a Native American advocate. She refused to go on Johnny Carson as they told her she could not talk of Native American Advocacy. She talks of being black-listed because of her advocacy stand.
She wrote a love song, "Until It's Time for you to Go" which has ben covered by numerous artists, and is considered to be Elvis and Priscilla Presley's love song.
As a song writer she has established herself. As a singer as well. She started in the coffee houses of New York. She has a distinctive voice and is able to weave Native American sounds into her singing. She even plays a mouth bow from choke cherry branches from the reservation.
She had thought of becoming an educator before heading to New York to the music scene. However this has come back around. She founded the Cradle Board program which encourages teaching Native American concepts in school.
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