page_title: Rufus Wainwright (album)
section_title: Promotion
hierarchical_section_title: Rufus Wainwright (album) / Promotion
caption_attribution_description: English: Gwen Stefani at the Cannes film festival
context_page_description: Rufus Wainwright is the eponymous debut studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released in the United States on May 19, 1998 through DreamWorks Records. The album was Record producer by Jon Brion, with the exception of "In My Arms", which was produced and mixed by Pierre Marchand, and "Millbrook" and "Baby", which were produced by Brion and Van Dyke Parks. Lenny Waronker was the album's executive producer.
  Wainwright was signed to the DreamWorks label in 1996 after Waronker heard the demo tape he recorded with Marchand. Over the course of two years, Wainwright and Brion recorded 56 songs on 62 rolls of tape at a cost that exceeded $700,000. These were then narrowed down to twelve tracks for the album. No singles were released from Rufus Wainwright, though Sophie Muller directed the music video for "April Fools", which featured Wainwright in Los Angeles attempting to prevent the deaths of opera heroines. To support the album, Wainwright toured throughout the United States and Canada following its release.
  Overall, reviews for the album were positive.
context_section_description: Wainwright acknowledged that his debut album was "not a single driven album"; no singles were released from it. To promote the album, a music video was produced for the song "April Fools". Directed by Sophie Muller, the video features Wainwright in Los Angeles "amidst a clique of classic opera characters" such as Madame Butterfly, attempting to prevent each of them from committing suicide. However, in each instance he arrives too late. The video also contains cameo appearances by No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, a friend of Muller's, and Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, a high school acquaintance and former roommate of Wainwright's. Part of the video was filmed in Stefani's house.
  Wainwright performed "Beauty Mark" on Today, the American morning news and talk show. He also taped an episode of MTV's television program 120 Minutes to promote the album, which aired on March 28, 1999. An advertisement in Billboard promoting the album also referred to appearances on CBS News Sunday Morning, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, and Sessions at West 54th.
  In the year prior to the album's release, Wainwright opened for artists such as Barenaked Ladies and Sean Lennon. On March 1, 1999, Wainwright began his first tour as a headlining act in Hoboken, New Jersey. During that month, Wainwright toured throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic states, Ontario (Ottawa and Toronto), Quebec (Montreal), the southern United States (Nashville, and Atlanta), and the midwestern United States (Cincinnati, Chicago, and Pontiac). Wainwright continued to tour throughout the month of April before heading to Europe. Stops were mostly along the West Coast, including four in California, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. Three concerts were also held in western Canada, including Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary.
caption: No Doubt's Gwen Stefani made a cameo appearance in the music video for "April Fools", part of which was filmed in her house
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