After growing up in Consort, Alberta, she formed and fronted a band called "the reclines," named for singer Patsy Cline. In 1985 she received the Juno award for "Most Promising Female Vocalist" and the following year signed with Sire Records. She traveled to Nashville to work with Owen Bradley, Patsy Cline's former producer, on an album called "Shadowland." She won the "Best Country Vocal Collaboration" Grammy in 1988 for her duet with Roy Orbison on his song "Crying," and the 1989 "Best Country Vocal Performance, Female" Grammy for her album "Absolute Torch and Twang."

In the early 1990s she lost some fans for endorsing an anti-meat campaign in a province full of farmers who depended on meat for their living, then starred as Kotzebue in Percy Adlon's 1991 film Salmonberries, and would later perform the movie's song "Barefoot" on an episode of MTV Unplugged. Her next record, 1992's "Ingenue," marked a shift away from country music and into a more pop/soft rock style, and the album's single "Constant Craving" won the 1992 Grammy for "Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female."

Shortly after releasing "Ingenue" she came out publically as a lesbian, becoming one of the first musical celebrities to do so. In 1993 she provided the soundtrack to the Uma Thurman film "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and released another album, "All You Can Eat." It would be four more years before her next release, "Drag," a 1997 collection of songs about smoking and addiction. In 2000 she released "Invincible Summer," a vaguely Beach Boys-sounding album whose title was taken from Albert Camus.

She has lived in Los Angeles for some time, and also has a house in Canada. She dated Leisha Hailey for a while and has also been linked to Julie Cypher.