Sarah McLeod (musician)

Sarah McLeod
Background information
Birth name Sarah McLeod
Origin Adelaide, South Australia
Genres pop/ rock / acoustic and dance. dance, rock
Years active 1994–present
Labels Cassette Entertainment (Aus)
Festival Mushroom Records
Naughty Mouse Ink Pty Ltd
Associated acts The Superjesus
Website Official website

Sarah McLeod is an Australian musician and singer, the former frontwoman of rock band The Superjesus. She has three ARIA awards and over 300,000 record sales to her name (from her Superjesus days 1994–2004), and has been referred to as the "iconic Aussie rock chick".[1]

Early life and family

McLeod, originally from Adelaide in South Australia, started singing in her late teens. Sarah is the younger sister of TV presenter Leah McLeod (b. 1971).[2][3]

Coming from an private girls' school (St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School) and a planned career in stockbroking, and with only a few chords and a love of performance discovered during a holiday with friends in Bali, she formed her first band, Fallen Down Monster (FDM) where she first displayed her rock-chick characteristics and honed her vocal and guitar skills, and fun-loving, energetic stage presence. With FDM, McLeod performed indy band covers and wrote several strong originals which were never recorded, before finding creative synergy with Chris Tennant and forming a new band, originally called "Hell's Kitchen" which later became The Superjesus. McLeod released three albums and an EP with the Superjesus and after nearly ten years split with the band in 2004.

In 2005, McLeod launched her solo career, releasing her first single "Let's Get Together" in May, followed by single "Private School Kid" (a duet with Chris Cheney from The Living End) in July.

First album: Beauty Was A Tiger

Her first solo album, titled Beauty Was A Tiger (Festival Mushroom Records), was released in September 2005. Sarah's new backing band (known as The Black Diamond Express) consists of Stu Hunter (keyboards), Mick Skelton (drums), Patch Brown (guitar) and Grant Fitzpatrick (bass guitar). All the tracks on this album were written either by Sarah or with Chris Peters, bass player with the Detroit band Electric Six.

Following the release of "Private School Kid", Sarah parted ways with her record company (which record company?). She went on to release the singles "All But Gone" as an independent EP, and "He Doesn't Love You", which was also remixed. In October 2006, the remix of her single "He Doesn't Love You" reached No. 1 on the Aria Club Charts, and has also been released in the UK.

In 2006 McLeod performed some solo acoustic gigs which were so successful they culminated in a tour of Australia, playing some songs from Beauty Was A Tiger, some old Superjesus hits and a few covers. According to recentwhen? interviews she feels she has really hit her stride, and in October 2006 she released a self-titled CD of her new live & acoustic sound.

Album in progress

McLeod worked on a follow up album scheduled for release in 2008. She spent much of 2007 and 2008 travelling in the United States and living in London where she recorded songs for the album. Sarah first previewed a track titled "Love Will Conquer All" on MySpace in 2007. Since then there have been other tracks, demos and samples released on her MySpace profile including "Sometimes Love" and "No One's Ever Died of a Broken Heart". She has also mentioned other songs in her blogs. In October 2008, Sarah stated that she was working on some new demos and added a cover of the song "Leaving on a Jetplane" to her profile. In November 2009 she released the single "Tell Your Story Walking", an electronic, New Wave sound of the 1980s music which became a surprise hit in the club scene. The second single, "White Horse", was a hit in clubs both in Australia and around the world.

In 2009 Sarah posted several demos on her MySpace profile including "Love to Last", "No One's Ever Died From a Broken Heart" and "Tell Your Story Walking". Although she has not confirmed the songs for her album, she stated that she will continue to post more demos in coming months.

Continued work

In July 2010, Sarah released some remixes from John Roman, Autoerotique and Grandtheft for her forthcoming single "Double R" which is scheduled for release in August 2010. She also released her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".[4]

Sarah McLeod was revealed as the driving force behind new project Screaming Bikini, after the release of their debut album in May 2011.

In 2013 she released the EP 96% Love Song Book. A record influenced by her love of 50's and 60's music, the EP contained an acapella barber shop quartet song called 'The Greatest Pretender'.

In 2014 she released the single Man The Life Boats as a duet with the Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin. The pair toured Australia on the back of this single.

Most recently, Sarah has been touring Australia performing acoustic shows and has recently reformed her rock band The Superjesus that brought her to fame in the 90's.. a new album is said to be in the making.

Discography

Albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
AUS
Beauty Was a Tiger 31

Extended Plays

List of extended plays, with selected details
Title Album details
Sarah Mcleod: Live & Acoustic
  • Released: 5 February 2007[5]
  • Label: Roustabout Records
  • Formats: CD, digital download
Untitled EP
  • Released: 3 December 2010[6]
  • Label: Roustabout Records
  • Formats: Digital download
96% Love Song Book EP
  • Released: 24 February 2014[7]

Singles

Year Song AUS AUS Club Album
2005 "Lets Get Together" — — Beauty Was a Tiger
"Private School Kid" 33 —
style="text-align:center; rowspan="2"|2006 "All But Gone" — —
"He Doesn't Love You" 99 1
2009 "Tell Your Story Walking" — — "Single Release Only"
2010 "White Horse" — — "Untitled EP"
"Double R" — — "Single Release Only"
"Dancing In The Dark" — —
2011 "Love & Honour" — 12
2014 "Man The Life Boats" — —
"Scouts Honour" — — "96% Love Song Book"

References

  1. ↑ Rock Chicks:The Hottest Female Rockers from the 1960s to Now by Stieven-Taylor, Alison (2007). Sydney. Rockpool Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921295-06-5
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572832/bio
  3. ↑ http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/who/celebrity-interviews/article/-/6582792/superjesus-39-s-sarah-mcleod-quot-i-just-wanted-to-grow-up-quot/
  4. ↑ http://www.covermesongs.com/2010/08/sarah-mcleod-dancing-in-the-dark.html
  5. ↑ Live & Acoustic Itunes
  6. ↑ Untitled EP Itunes
  7. ↑ Love Song book Itunes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sarah McLeod (musician).