Photograph credit: Hayley Robb, courtesy of the National Music Centre

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k.d. lang ladies' Fastball Jacket

Not currently on exhibit

Artifact TypeJacket

Singer-songwriter k.d. lang’s earliest musical influences were a mixture of classical piano lessons and her older sister’s rock music collection. Though music was a big part of her formative years in the small town of Consort, Alberta, she also loved team sports, even claiming that her first professional ambition was to be a roller derby queen. k.d. lang excelled in track and field; in 1979 she ranked eighth nationally in the javelin throw. The red and white “Ladies Fastball” jacket on display once belonged to lang, and is embroidered with her original moniker, Kathy.

Donated by k.d. lang

Users/Performersk.d. lang was born Kathryn Dawn Lang on 2 November 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, and was raised in the prairie town of Consort, Alberta. Her earliest musical interests emerged in the early 1980s while studying at Red Deer College, where she formed her first band, The Reclines, which was a tribute band to Patsy Cline. The group’s first recordings throughout 1983 and 1984, characterized by a playfully punk attitude and country-rock aesthetic, proved successful, garnering national interest. In 1985, Lang was the recipient of the Juno award for Most Promising Female Vocalist, and, the following year, signed a recording contract with Sire records and a producer in Nashville, Tennessee. International attention came in 1988 with a performance at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, which led to a hugely successful collaborative recording with Roy Orbison that earned the pair a Grammy award in 1989. In the early 1990s, Lang’s aesthetic moved away from country and toward adult contemporary, reflected most prominently in the critically acclaimed Ingénue of 1992, with the hits “Constant Craving” and “Miss Chatelaine”. She remained among the most successful and prolific Canadian musicians of the 1990s, continuing to release albums, tour worldwide, and providing original music for films such as Gus Van Sant’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues of 1993. Her awards and accolades over the years are numerous, including multiple Grammy awards and nominations, eight Juno awards, and numerous Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) awards. Lang was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996.

Collection