Martha Wainwright Has 'No Regrets' Despite Tragic Loss

When choosing the final tracks for 'Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, À Paris,' Martha Wainwright's album of Edith Piaf songs, the singer was careful not to select any of her predecessor's best-known tunes for two reasons: For one, she couldn't relate to the material, for another, she couldn't bear to hear them performed by anyone else.

"I should be singing 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' because that's probably what people want to hear," she says. "[But] I wouldn't want to hear anyone else sing it."

Wainwright adds with a laugh, "I don't regret not covering it."

While she opted not to create her own rendition of the tune (which translates to "No Regrets"), it turns out the concept of having no regrets is a sentiment Wainwright can relate to. Though the last year of Wainwright's life was tragic -- her mother, legendary musician Kate McGarrigle, died of cancer -- the Montreal-born talent has learned to live in the moment and be grateful, despite her hardships.

"I didn't realize how lucky I was," Wainwright says of her relationship with her mother.

Since McGarrigle's death, Wainwright says she has come to better appreciate their special bond -- while many people argue with their parents over career choices, the singers' relationship was that much deeper because of their shared profession.

"I've never made a record without her on it and always brought her on the road," Wainwright says, eyes sparkling. "There was never a point -- even after singing the same show a hundred times -- where she'd be like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna stay at the hotel and watch TV'. [When I wasn't] putting her to work playing the piano, she'd be on the side of the stage listening, with her eyes closed, to every note."

Like her brother Rufus, who recently added 'opera composer' to his resumé with the critically acclaimed 'Prima Donna,' Wainwright says she may soon tackle a new vocation of the stage.

"I would like to write a play, because that was what my mother always wanted me to do," says Wainwright. "She thought that the greatest thing that you could do would be to write a play."

Although Wainwright muses that she often doesn't make the right career choices, it's these instinctual moves that will keep her fans, and her soul, smiling.

"I'm a fool, but I can't help it," she says with a devilish grin.