http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_art...ws/e121331A.htm
Anne Murray feels apathy, hopes doc reminds public of her accomplishments
Updated at 13:39 on December 13, 2005, EST.
TORONTO (CP) - Anne Murray broke down countless barriers to become Canada's first international female superstar, but these days she thinks most people have forgotten her accomplishments, and admits to feeling hurt when people suggest she's a has-been.
"I feel apathy - not so much in the U.S., but in Canada I do," she said recently over the line from a concert stop in West Virginia. "They don't care whether you can sing. There's a certain amount of apathy involved when people get older and they're still doing it. People go 'Oh no, not Anne Murray again.' "
Murray, who turned 60 this year, was particularly offended earlier this year when critics were lambasting the lineup for the Live 8 music extravaganza.
"When you read headlines like when they were doing the Live 8 show ... 'What was wrong? Was Anne Murray busy?' "
"That's coming from young people and I understand, but get out of here. I spent my life working so hard to get somewhere," said Murray, the first Canadian singer to reach No. 1 on the U.S. charts.
She's hoping an upcoming documentary about her career might change a bit of that attitude.
Airing Thursday on CBC, Anne Murray: The Music of My Life takes viewers through the Songbird's rise to international stardom, hobnobbing with Glen Campbell, Julio Iglesias, Patti LaBelle and Kenny Rogers.
The one-hour special includes also includes new interviews with Murray in which she comments on her song selection process, women's issues in show business and fame in general.
It's a reminder that she was one of the original crossover music stars, able to make her mark in both pop and country. She was the first woman - and the first Canadian - to win the Country Music Association's album of the year award. In 1984 she was honoured in Nashville for her album and single A Little Good News, which had sold more than 12 million copies at the time.
Born and raised in Springhill, N.S., where her 92-year-old mother still resides, Murray began her career in 1966 singing on CBC's Singalong Jubilee out of Halifax. A couple of years later she released her first record.
"It's self-explanatory. It's all there," Murray said of the CBC program. "I showed it to some friends of mine who really didn't know much about the early days of my career and they were fascinated."
"It was interesting to see it through their eyes. They said 'Wow, I didn't realize that. I didn't know that.' "
She added: "I'm hoping that's going to be the reaction from a lot of people. People take you for granted. They don't know a lot of the stuff that has gone on."
And the veteran performer, who has more than 30 albums under her belt, says she sees the backlash happen with other Canadian superstars all the time.
"I saw an article on Shania . . . somebody putting Shania Twain down and this was a Canadian guy," said Murray. "I thought 'What is there to dislike about Shania Twain?' She's beautiful. She sings great. She writes great songs. She's a good person. (FV: Anne gets it!!) 
"I look at that and think 'why do people try to look so hard for something bad about somebody?"'
Despite the critics, Murray, who's won 31 Junos and four Grammys, says she has no intention of putting away her microphone just yet.
"It makes no sense to quit just because people say 'Well, it's time to move on.' There are still people who enjoy hearing me sing and hearing Dolly Parton sing and a lot of us veterans."