Sarah Ann McLachlan,
OC, OBC (born ) is a Canadian
musician, singer and songwriter.
She is known for her emotional
ballads and
mezzo-soprano vocal range. As of 2006, she has
sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to
date is
Surfacing, for
which she won two
Grammy Awards (out of
four nominations) and eight
Juno Awards.
In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the
Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female
musicians in the late 1990s.
Biography
Sarah
McLachlan was born on , 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. One of the band's songs, "Grind", credited as
a group composition, can be found on the independent Flamingo
Records release 'Out of the Fog' and the CD
Out of the Fog
Too. It has yet to be released elsewhere. Her high school
yearbook predicted 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
insisted she finish high school and complete one year of studies at
the Nova Scotia College of Art and
Design
before moving to Vancouver and embarking on a new
life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to
Nettwerk two years later before having
written a single song.
In 1997, Sarah McLachlan married her drummer,
Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica. McLachlan lost her
mother to cancer in December 2001, while McLachlan herself was
pregnant. McLachlan gave birth to a daughter, whom she named India
Ann Sushil Sood, on , in Vancouver. By this time, McLachlan had
already completed three-quarters of the production on her next
record,
Afterglow. On , she
gave birth to her second daughter, Taja Summer Sood, in Vancouver.
McLachlan announced her separation from Ashwin Sood in September
2008.
Musical career
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".
Solace also
marked the beginning of her partnership with
Pierre Marchand. Marchand and McLachlan have
been collaborators ever since, with Marchand producing all of
McLachlan's albums and occasionally co-writing songs.
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and Surfacing
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 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.
In 1993,
Darryl Neudorf filed a
lawsuit against McLachlan and her label, Nettwerk, alleging that he
had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the
songwriting on
Touch, and alleging that he wasn't paid
properly for work done on
Solace. The judge in this suit
eventually ruled in McLachlan's favour on the songs; though Neudorf
may have contributed to the songwriting, neither regarded each
other as joint authors. The judge ruled in Neudorf's favour on the
payment issue.
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 the single
"Possession". The lawsuit was also challenging for the
Canadian legal system—Vandrei was a self-admitted
stalker whose self-acknowledged goal in filing the
lawsuit was to be near McLachlan physically. Consequently, special
precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if at any
time she had to be in the same location as Vandrei. The lawsuit
never came to trial, however, as Vandrei was found dead in an
apparent
suicide before the trial began.
This topic was explored at length in Canadian author
Judith Fitzgerald's book,
Building A
Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan & Lilith Fair.
Following the success from
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,
McLachlan returned in 1997 with
Surfacing, her best selling album to
date. Earning her two
Grammy Awards and
four
Juno Awards, the album has since
sold over 11 million copies worldwide and brought her much
international success. Still in the spotlight from the album,
McLachlan launched the highly popular
Lilith Fair tour.
Her song "
Angel"—inspired by the fatal
overdose of
Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist
Jonathan Melvoin—made sales
skyrocket.In Spring 1998 the motion picture
City of Angels featured "Angel". It
became the No. 1 album on the
Billboard chart. More than five
months after the movie disappeared from the theaters,
City of Angels:
Music from the Motion Picture remained firmly entrenched
among
Billboard's top 40 albums. This soundtrack earned
quadruple-platinum status.
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.
Hiatus
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. Six years would elapse between the release of
Surfacing and that of her next studio album,
Afterglow.
However, she did release a live album in 1999, entitled
Mirrorball.
The album's singles included a new live version of her earlier
doubles "I Will Remember You", a studio recording of which had
previously been released on
The Brothers McMullen soundtrack
as well as
Rarities, B-Sides and Other
Stuff.
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 1997, McLachlan co-wrote and provided guest vocals on the
Delerium song "
Silence" for their album
Karma. This song achieved a massive
amount of top 40 airplay when released as a single in late 2000 and
also featured on 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 twenty-fifth 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.
"The Witness" and Afterglow
In addition to being used often to remember those who died in
disasters like the
September 11
attacks, McLachlan's song "Angel" also appears on the
soundtrack near the end of Tribe Of Heart's 45-minute documentary
DVD titled "The Witness". The scene shows people's reactions to
videos shown by Eddie Lama from his van, of how animals are killed
for use of their fur.
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.
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.
During the Summer of 2005 "
World On Fire." was
used for the TNT miniseries
Into the West.
In 2007, McLachlan's song "Answer" featured in
The Brave One starring
Jodie Foster.
Wintersong
McLachlan hand-wrote 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 , a press release announced McLachlan would be releasing a new
album 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",
Gordon
Lightfoot's "
Song for a
Winter's Night", and
John Lennon's
"
Happy Xmas ", which she
recorded with her outreach children and youth choir, and seasonal
favourites: "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. The title track is an original work of McLachlan's.
Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the
Billboard 200 album chart the week ending . It
has peaked at #7 and has sold 759,162 copies in the US to date. For
the week of , it was the #1 album on iTunes. Worldwide the album
has sold 1.1 million copies to date. It has been certified Platinum
in the U.S and 2x Platinum in Canada.
Wintersong was nominated for both a
Grammy Award, in the
Best
Traditional Pop Vocal Album category, as well as for a
Juno Award, for
Pop Album of the
Year.
Guest Appearances
In November 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
Eurythmics.McLachlan was the subject of
rumours of an
Oscar nomination for the
song, but in the end was not nominated. 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. As of January 2008, "Ordinary Miracle"
was covered by Kathy Fisher for use in commercials for
CVS/pharmacy, and jazz singer
Emilie-Claire Barlow recorded her own
version of the song for
Sun Life
Financial commercials in Canada.
McLachlan has collaborated on two tracks since
Wintersong. In early 2007, she sang on
Dave Stewart's
Go Green, alongside
Nadirah X,
Imogen Heap,
Natalie Imbruglia, and
others.
McLachlan also appeared on
Annie
Lennox's album,
Songs
of Mass Destruction. Together with
Madonna,
Céline
Dion,
Pink,
Sugababes,
Angélique Kidjo,
k.d. lang,
Faith Hill,
Fergie,
Melissa Etheridge,
Bonnie Raitt,
Shakira,
Anastacia,
Joss
Stone,
Dido, and
KT Tunstall, Sarah performed on the track
"
Sing".
Rereleases, Rarities Vol 2, and Greatest Hits
On , 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.
McLachlan stated in an interview with
Billboard on , that she has written one song,
and starting in the new year, she will focus more on writing a new
album.
saw the release of Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2. The tracklist includes McLachlan's recent covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and Dave Stewart's "Ordinary Miracle", as well as collaborations throughout her career with The Perishers, Cyndi Lauper and Bryan Adams, among others.
saw the release of the 15th anniversary 3-disc edition of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. The set includes the original remastered album, The Freedom Sessions and a DVD that includes live performances, music videos and more. The album was released by Legacy Recordings.
McLachlan released a
greatest hits
album,
Closer:
The Best of Sarah McLachlan, on . On she released a new
song from the album, "
U want me 2," a
mid-tempo contemplative love song, as a digital single on
iTunes; also accompanied with a video
performance. McLachlan also admitted the song was inspired by the
dissolution of her marriage, which she announced in September 2008,
during initial promotion. Being quietly released as a single on 3
February 2009 the other new song found on the album, "Don't Give Up
on Us", signaled a wrap. (McLachlan's official website features
pictures of McLachlan from a companion photo shoot.)
New Music and Lilith Fair 2010
A new single, "One Dream," was released on September 29, 2009 and
is a rumored contendor for the official theme song of the
2010 Winter Olympics. Work on a new
full-length album continues and will be released in April 2010 per
an interview between McLachlan and Yamaha All Access Magazine
Summer Edition. It is not yet known if "One Dream" will be included
on the album. The Lilith Fair also has a green light for a European
summer tour in 2010. Sarah wishes to include some of the original
acts plus many more new acts since the original Lilith Fair.
Guitars and equipment
For years, Sarah McLachlan's main stage guitar has been a late-'70s
Larrivée C-10 with
rosewood back and sides, a
spruce top, and a Florentine cutaway. The guitar is
amplified with a Fishman Rare Earth Blend (which combines a
magnetic pickup and an internal mic), running through a Radial JDV
Mk3 active DI. She has also performed with Canadian-made
Morgan guitars,
and has reported to be trying out Taylor models with Expression
System electronics.
McLachlan strings her guitars with phosphor-bronze or vintage
bronze Dean Markleys. She uses medium-lights (.012—.054) for her
guitars in E A D G A D and D A D G A D tunings. Sometimes she uses
lights (.011—.046) and raises E A D G A D a whole step so her capo
positions can be two frets lower. For instance, in the past she
played "Building a Mystery" in E A D G A D with a capo at the
seventh fret, but now she tunes to F# B E A B E and capoes at the
fifth fret. McLachlan's capo of choice is a Dunlop C-Four.
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.
Her song "Building A Mystery" came in at 91 on VH1's 100 Greatest
Songs of the 90s.
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. In 2001, she was inducted to the
Order of British Columbia.
Philanthropy
In early
2005, McLachlan took part in a star-studded tsunami
disaster
relief
telethon on NBC.
On 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. In
addition to her own headliner show she also joined
Delerium live on stage for their first-ever
performance of 'Silence'. 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.
She is an
avid supporter of the ASPCA
and animal
welfare. She filmed a two-minute advertisement for the
organization which featured her song "
Angel". The advertisement's
imagery of shelter animals mixed with the soundtrack and
McLachlan's simple appeal for donations has raised $30 million for
the ASPCA since it began to air in 2006, which allowed the
organization to air appeals in higher profile prime-time cable ad
slots; subsequently the organization produced a new ad for the 2008
holiday season featuring McLachlan appealing for the ASPCA over her
Wintersong performance of "
Silent
Night", and a new ad with her was released in January 2009
featuring the song
Answer .
On 2 July 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.
McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides
music education for inner city children. In 2007, the provincial
government announced $500,000 in funding for the outreach
program.
Discography
| Studio albums |
6 |
| Singles |
37 |
| EPs |
3 |
| Compilation albums |
3 |
| Live albums |
4 |
| Video albums |
8 |
|
References
- Sarah McLachlan’s voice range.
-
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003848771
-
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1D8103DF934A15751C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
- http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid34824.asp
Advocate.com
- www.greenpeaceworks.com
- Blackened-Sky.net
-
http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/Olympic+songbird+Sarah+McLachlan+releases+Dream/2030150/story.html
- May 2004, Issue No.137 of Acoustic Guitar magazine
- "100 greatest songs of the 90s (hour 1) from
VH1
- http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=now_drtv
ASPCA.org Retrieved on
- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/us/26charity.html
- B.C. gives $500,000 to music outreach project for
youth, News release, Office of the Premier, , retrieved on
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