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TORONTO – Singer Rita MacNeil passed away Tuesday evening. She was 68.

According to a message posted on her official website, the folk performer died in Sydney, Nova Scotia from complications following surgery. No other details were provided.

MacNeil is best known for her 1987 hit “Flying On Your Own,” her ‘90s variety show on the CBC and her many cross-country tours – often with the Men of the Deeps choir.

Nipper MacLeod of Men of the Deeps said news of MacNeil’s death is “devastating.”

“Rita was a good friend of Men of the Deeps and a very special person,” he told Global News. “She was unbelievable. The first time I heard her sing, it just pierced my heart. She had a special, unique voice, very powerful.”

MacLeod recalled witnessing how beloved MacNeil was whenever the choir toured with her. “People would flock to see her and just say ‘hello’ or touch her,” he said. “It was like traveling with a saint.”

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MacLeod said he had heard MacNeil developed an infection following surgery but didn’t realize it was serious.

“She never had it easy and she worked hard all her life,” he said. “That’s what people loved about her. She’d make time for people. She had a great heart.”

MacNeil won three Junos, several East Coast Music Awards and a Gemini Award.

Songs like “Working Man,” “I’ll Accept the Rose Tonight,” and “Home I’ll Be” endeared her to fans in Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

“Rita had a real visceral connection to her audience,” said Scott Burke, executive director of the East Coast Music Awards, on Global’s The Morning Show. “The songs dealt with working class issues, women’s issues, [the] struggle for workers. Her music really reached into the heart and soul of her audience.”

MacNeil’s success came late in life, however. She recorded her first album, Born a Woman, in 1975 while active in the women’s movement and performed at folk festivals for a decade before being discovered at Expo 86 in Vancouver and signed to a major label.

“Rita could convey that kind of warmth and sincerity through her songs,” said country singer Tommy Hunter. “I have lost a good friend.”

In a statement, Anne Murray called MacNeil “a dear sweet woman and a gifted singer-songwriter who represented women and her beloved N.S. so eloquently.”

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Canadians took to social media to share their thoughts. Nova Scotia musician Joel Plaskett tweeted: “Sad to hear the news about Rita MacNeil. Rest in peace.” Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Twitter post read: “Saddened to hear about the passing of one of Cape Breton and Canada’s finest voices, Rita MacNeil.”

Great Big Sea singer Alan Doyle tweeted: “Oh Dear. Just hearing we lost Rita MacNeil. GBS performed with her many times. What a Lady. RIP.”

On Facebook, 70-year-old Canadian music legend Bobby Curtola said: “The Maritimes and the music world is crying today for the loss of Rita MacNeil. My heart goes out to her family at a difficult time. The voice of an angel is gone.”

Life was not easy for MacNeil. Born in Big Pond, Cape Breton, she was one of eight children in her family and was teased for her cleft palate.

According to her 1998 memoir On a Personal Note, her parents drank and fought a lot and she was molested by an uncle when she was just 10 years old.

MacNeil also struggled to deal with her shyness, weight issues, alcohol, depression and a troubled marriage.

MacNeil leaves behind two children (son Wade became her manager and her daughter Laura ran her business, Rita’s Tea Room).

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In her autobiography, MacNeil writes about being judged more for her body than her body of work.

In a 1998 interview to promote the book, she said: “We all come in different forms and we only have a short time. Life is too short to poke fun of people; to make somebody feel inadequate or unworthy. Nobody has that right.”

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