Sarah McLachlan
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| Sarah McLachlan | ||
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 Sarah McLachlan performing at John Labatt Centre, London, Ontario, Canada during the 2005 Afterglow tour.
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| Background information | ||
| Born | January 28, 1968 (age 39) | |
| Origin | Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
| Genre(s) | Piano pop | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, painter | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Piano Keyboard Guitar Harp[3] |
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| Years active | 1988 - present | |
| Label(s) | Arista Nettwerk |
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| Website | www.sarahmclachlan.com | |
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.
Known for the emotional sound of her ballads, some of her popular songs include "Angel", "Building a Mystery", "Adia", "Possession", "Fallen", "I Will Remember You", and "World on Fire". Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won four Juno Awards and three Grammy Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, and adopted in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a child, she took voice lessons, along with studies in classical piano and guitar. When she was 17 years old, and still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a short-lived rock band called "The October Game". Her high school yearbook claimed that she was "destined to become a famous rock star."
Following The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract with Vancouver based independent record label Nettwerk by Moev's Mark Jowett. McLachlan's parents convinced her to finish her studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before embarking on a new life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to Nettwerk two years later before having written a single song.
[edit] Touch and Solace
The signing prompted McLachlan to move to Vancouver, British Columbia. There she recorded the first of her albums, Touch, in 1988, which received both critical and commercial success and included the hit song "Vox". During this period she also contributed to an album by Moev, and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for The Grapes of Wrath.
Her 1991 album, Solace, was her mainstream breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" and "Into the Fire".
[edit] Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Surfacing, and Lilith Fair
1993's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate smash hit in Canada. From her Nettwerk connection, her piano version of the song "Possession" was included on the first Due South television series soundtrack in 1996. Over the next two years, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy quietly became McLachlan's international breakthrough as well, scaling the charts in a number of countries. Rolling Stone Magazine has listed it as one of the top 100 best albums of all-time and it set the stage for 1997's Surfacing, which debuted at the top of the charts amid the hype around Lilith Fair.
The McLachlan-founded Lilith Fair tour brought together 2 million people over its three-year history and raised more than $7 million for charities. It was the most successful all-female music festival in history, one of the biggest music festivals of the 1990s, and helped launch the careers of several well-known female artists.
[edit] Hiatus
On February 7, 1997, she married Ashwin Sood, her long-time drummer, in Negril, Jamaica. In 1998, in addition to performing her own set, she performed a cover of Sad Lisa with rock band Phish at the annual Bridge School Benefit concert in California, hosted by Neil Young, after which McLachlan began an extended period away from recording or touring. However, she did release a live album in 1999, entitled Mirrorball, which produced the single "I Will Remember You." Also that year, McLachlan recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the Toy Story 2 soundtrack. This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the awards ceremony, but the award went to "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan, written and recorded by Phil Collins.
In 2000, McLachlan co-wrote the Delerium song "Silence" and provided guest vocals. This song achieved a modest amount of top 40 airplay and was also part of the soundtrack for the movie Brokedown Palace. In 2001, McLachlan provided background vocals, guitar, and piano on the closing track "Love Is" from Stevie Nicks' eighth solo album, Trouble in Shangri-La, in addition to drawing the dragon used for the "S" in Stevie's name on the album cover. In May 2002, her duet with Bryan Adams was released on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song "Don't Let Go" while Sood did the drum work.
McLachlan also participated in several concerts during her break, such as Sheryl Crow's Live from Central Park in 1999, the Arista Records 25th anniversary celebration in 2000, as well as the 2002 British Columbia Cancer Foundation Benefit Concert in memory of cancer victim Michele Bourbonnais. She participated along with four other Canadian artists: Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, and Chantal Kreviazuk.
McLachlan lost her mother to cancer in December 2001, while McLachlan herself was pregnant. McLachlan gave birth to a daughter named India Ann Sushil Sood on April 6, 2002, in Vancouver. By this time, McLachlan had already completed three-quarters of the production on her next record, Afterglow.
[edit] Mirrorball: The Complete Concert
On October 3, 2006, the live album Mirrorball was re-released as Mirrorball: The Complete Concert. This release contains 2 discs that span over 2 hours of a concert performed in Portland, Oregon, in April 1998.
[edit] Afterglow and associated philanthropy
McLachlan returned to public life and touring with her 2003 album release, Afterglow, which contained the singles "Fallen", "Stupid", and "World On Fire." Rather than shoot a conventional music video for "World On Fire", McLachlan donated all but $15 of the $150,000 budget to various charitable causes around the world and then used the video to explain how it benefited the communities that received the money.
Although she has returned to touring, she has no current plans to resurrect Lilith Fair. Another live album, Afterglow Live, was released in late 2004. The CD consisted of several tracks from a full-length concert which was included in its entirety on a DVD, as well as the three music videos from Afterglow.
In 2004, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, who credits McLachlan and her music for lifting him from a period of depression, invited her to join him on a track from his solo album. Although the album was not released until early 2006, remixes of the song "Just Like Me" were included on a number of compilations in 2005.
In early 2005 McLachlan took part in a star-studded tsunami disaster relief telethon on NBC. On January 29 McLachlan was a headliner for a benefit concert in Vancouver along with other Canadian superstars such as Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams. The show also featured a performance by the Sarah McLachlan Musical Outreach Choir & Percussion Ensemble, a children's choir and percussion band from the aforementioned Vancouver outreach program. The concert was titled One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief, and raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia. The show was the brainchild of McLachlan's manager, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. It ran for four hours and aired live on CTV across Canada.
On July 2, 2005, McLachlan participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, where she performed her hit "Angel" with Josh Groban. These concerts, which were held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world, were intended to coincide with the G8 summit to put pressure on the leaders of the world's richest nations to fight poverty in Africa by cancelling debt.
[edit] Wintersong
McLachlan handwrote a letter, copies of which were sent to members of her fan club in late March 2006, stating that she was beginning work on a holiday album due to be released later that year.
On July 29th, a press release[1] announced McLachlan would be releasing a new album October 17 titled Wintersong on Arista Records. The first new studio recording since the 2003 release of Afterglow, the album includes 11 new recordings, featuring covers of Joni Mitchell’s “River” and John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir, and seasonal favorites interpreted by McLachlan with her signature style: “Christmas Time Is Here,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “The First Noel,” and “Greensleeves (What Child Is This?) ”, among others. Included, also, is the title track, an original work of McLachlan's.
Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 album chart the week ending November 4, 2006. It has peaked at #7 and has sold 759,162 copies in the US to date. For the week of December 5, 2006, it was the #1 album on iTunes.
Wintersong was nominated for a Grammy, for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The award, however, went to Tony Bennett's Duets: An American Classic. The album is also nominated for a Juno Award, for Pop Album of the Year. The Juno Awards of 2007 will take place on April 1, 2007. McLachlan is also nominated for the Juno Fan Choice Award, where fans decide and vote between five nominees for the winner of the award.
[edit] Ordinary Miracle
In November of 2006, McLachlan performed the song Ordinary Miracle for that year's feature film, Charlotte's Web. The song was written by Glen Ballard and David A. Stewart of The Eurythmics. McLachlan was receiving serious rumours of an Oscar nomination for the song, but in the end they did not follow through. She helped to promote the song and movie by performing it on The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
[edit] Future
McLachlan stated in an interview with Billboard on October 18, 2006, that she has written one song, and starting in the new year, she'll focus more on writing a new album.[2] As well, on March 20, 2007 it was confirmed on Entertainment Tonight Canada that Sarah was expecting her second child.
[edit] Awards and achievements
McLachlan has been nominated for twenty-one Juno Awards and awarded eight. In 1992, her video for "Into The Fire" was selected as best music video. In 1998, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (along with Pierre Marchand), Single of the Year for "Building A Mystery", and Album of the Year for Surfacing. In 2000, she won an International Achievement award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for Afterglow and again shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Pierre Marchand for the singles "Fallen", "World on Fire", and "Stupid."
She has also won three Grammy Awards. She was awarded Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 for "Building A Mystery" and again in 1999 for the live version of "I Will Remember You." She also scored Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1997 for "Last Dance." Among these, she is credited for various nominations.
McLachlan has been extensively profiled by media including cover stories for Rolling Stone, Time magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Flare, a Canadian fashion magazine.
Through her career, she has also received many awards, primarily in recognition of her efforts in launching Lilith Fair. She was awarded the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Visionary Award in 1998 for advancing the careers of women in music. In 1999, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada by then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in recognition of her successful recording career, her role in Lilith Fair, and the charitable donations she made to women's shelters across Canada. McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides music education for inner city children. In 2001, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
[edit] Trivia
On a number of occasions, McLachlan has also found herself in the news for other reasons:
- In 1994, she was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa, Ontario, who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of her hit single "Possession". This lawsuit never came to trial, however, as the plaintiff was found dead in an apparent suicide before the trial began. The lawsuit was also challenging for the Canadian legal system; because of Vandrei's psychological state, special precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if at any time she had to be in the same location as Vandrei. This topic was explored in length in Canadian author Judith Fitzgerald's book, Building A Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan & Lilith Fair.
- In 1998, the title of McLachlan's song "Do What You Have to Do" was cited in Kenneth Starr's report as the subject of a letter from Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton.
- In 1998, The Song "Full of Grace" was used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the episode "Becoming, Part Two". A second McLachlan song, "Prayer of St. Francis" was used in the 2002 Buffy episode "Grave."
- In 1999, The Song "Do What You Have to Do" was used in Melrose Place, in the episode "How Amanda Got her Groove Back".
- In 1999, McLachlan and Nettwerk were sued by Darryl Neudorf, a Vancouver musician (and onetime member of 54-40) who alleged that he had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the song writing on Touch. The judge in this suit ultimately ruled in McLachlan's favour.
- In 2001, McLachlan covered the Beatles song "Blackbird" for the movie I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning.
- In 2004, McLachlan's song "The Path of Thorns" was the 50 millionth song downloaded from Apple's iTunes Music Store. [4] Her song I Will Remember You has been widely used in North America as a graduation song. The song "Angel" has been used to remember the dead.
- Many of McLachlan's songs have had a great deal of club play as remixes. Two albums consisting of popular remixes have been released, Remixed in 2001 (first limited to Canada, then released in the United States in 2003) and Bloom: Remix Album in 2005.
- Rapper Darryl McDaniels, a.k.a. DMC from Run DMC, credits McLachlan with saving him from suicide after he heard the song 'Angel' and was able to reassess his life through listening to the album Surfacing. They appeared together on the track 'Just Like Me' in 2006.
- As of 2006, McLachlan has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
- In 2006, McLachlan's "River" was featured at the end of a December holiday episode of ER, "City of Mercy."
- In 1999 two of McLachlan's songs were featured in the TV program Roswell : "Fear" in "The Pilot" and "I love you" in "Leaving Normal"
- The song "Ice Cream" was featured in an episode of the TV program Felicity.
- The songs "Possession" and "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy" featured in Season 1 of Due South Victoria's Secret Part 1 and Part 2 respectively.
- On March 20, 2007 it was confirmed on Entertainment Tonight Canada that Sarah was expecting her second child.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
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Touch |
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Solace
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Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
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Surfacing
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Afterglow
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Wintersong
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[edit] Live Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
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Live EP
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The Freedom Sessions
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Mirrorball
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Afterglow Live
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Mirrorball: The Complete Concert
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Live From Etown: 2006 Christmas Special
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[edit] Other Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
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Possession CD single
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Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff
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Remixed
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Bloom: Remix Album
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[edit] Virtual Albums
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. Adult Top 40 | U.S. AC | U.S. Modern Rock | U.S. Dance | UK | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "Vox" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Touch |
| 1990 | "Steaming" | - | - | - | - | 38 | - | Touch |
| 1991 | "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Solace |
| 1991 | "Into the Fire" | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | Solace |
| 1992 | "Drawn to the Rhythm" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Solace |
| 1993 | "Possession" | 73 | - | - | 4 | 30 | - | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy |
| 1994 | "Hold On" | - | - | - | 29 | - | - | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy |
| 1994 | "Good Enough" | 77 | - | - | 16 | - | - | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy |
| 1995 | "I Will Remember You" | 65 | - | 21 | - | - | - | The Brothers McMullen soundtrack |
| 1997 | "Building a Mystery" | 13 | 4 | 28 | 3 | - | - | Surfacing |
| 1998 | "Sweet Surrender" | 28 | 10 | 27 | 14 | 6 | - | Surfacing |
| 1998 | "Adia" | 3 | 6 | 5 | - | - | 18 | Surfacing |
| 1999 | "Angel" | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 36 | Surfacing |
| 1999 | "I Will Remember You" (live) | 14 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | Mirrorball |
| 1999 | "Ice Cream" | 12 | - | - | - | Mirrorball | ||
| 2000 | "I Love You" | - | - | - | - | 23 | - | Surfacing |
| 2000 | "Silence" (Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | 25 | - | - | 6 | 3 | Karma (Delerium) |
| 2001 | "Blackbird" (The Beatles Cover) | - | - | - | - | - | - | I Am Sam Soundtrack |
| 2002 | "Don't Let Go" (duet with Bryan Adams) | - | - | - | - | - | - | Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimmaron |
| 2002 | "The Rainbow Connection" | - | - | - | - | - | - | For The Kids |
| 2003 | "Fallen" | 41 | 5 | 12 | - | 3 | 50 | Afterglow |
| 2003 | "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | - | - | - | - | Barenaked For Christmas |
| 2004 | "Stupid" | - | 15 | - | - | - | - | Afterglow |
| 2004 | "World On Fire" | - | 14 | - | - | 2 | - | Afterglow |
| 2004 | "Silence 2004" (Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | Karma |
| 2005 | "Push" (live) | - | - | - | - | - | - | Afterglow Live |
| 2005 | "Pills" (The Perishers featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | - | - | - | - | The Perishers Live |
| 2005 | "Time After Time" (Cyndi Lauper featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | 14 | - | - | - | The Body Acoustic |
| 2005 | "Water's Edge" (Cyndi Lauper featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | - | - | - | - | The Body Acoustic |
| 2006 | "Just Like Me" (DMC featuring Sarah McLachlan) | - | - | - | - | - | - | Checks, Thugs, And Rock 'N' Roll |
| 2006 | "River" | 71 | 40 | 8 | - | - | - | Wintersong |
| 2006 | "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" | 107 | - | 5 | - | - | - | Wintersong |
| 2006 | "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | Wintersong |
| 2006 | "Ordinary Miracle" | - | - | 28 | - | - | - | Charlotte's Web |
| 2006 | "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Do You Hear What I Hear? |
[edit] Video releases
- 1994 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: Live VHS
- 1995 Sarah McLachlan Video Compilation: 1989-1994
- 1998 Sarah McLachlan Video Compilation 1989-1998: DVD
- 1999 Mirrorball DVD/VHS
- 2004 Fallen/Stupid DVD
- 2004 Afterglow Live DVD
- 2005 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Live DVD
- 2005 Sarah McLachlan: A Life of Music DVD
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
[edit] External links
- Sarah McLachlan's Order of Canada Citation - Governor General of Canada Website
- Official site
- Sarah discusses her vocal contribution to the Delerium track SILENCE
- Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach- SMMO her inner-city youth program
- The Official World on Fire Site — with a complete list of donation recipients
- Sarah McLachlan Official MySpace
- Sarah McLachlan at the Internet Movie Database
- Exclusive: Sarah McLachlan at AOL Canada Music Sessions
| Sarah McLachlan |
|---|
| Discography |
| Studio Albums: Touch · Solace · Fumbling Towards Ecstasy · Surfacing · Afterglow · Wintersong |
| Live Albums: Live EP · The Freedom Sessions · Mirrorball · Afterglow Live · Mirrorball: The Complete Concert · Live From Etown: 2006 Christmas Special |
| Other Albums: Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff · Remixed · Bloom: Remix Album |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1968 births | Living people | Arista Records artists | British Columbia musicians | Canadian adoptees | Canadian female guitarists | Canadian female singers | Canadian harpists | Canadian keyboardists | Canadian music video directors | Canadian pop guitarists | Canadian pop pianists | Canadian pop singers | Canadian singer-songwriters | Feminist artists | Gemini Award winners | Grammy Award winners | Juno Award winners | Members of the Order of British Columbia | Nova Scotia musicians | Officers of the Order of Canada | People from Halifax, Nova Scotia | People from Vancouver
