Sarah McLachlan

McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was raised as the youngest of three adopted children by Dorice McLachlan and her husband Jack, a marine biologist. She began playing the ukulele at age four then, for 12 years, studied classical guitar, piano, voice and opera at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. At 17, while still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a rock band called The October Game. After The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract by Moev's manager Mark Jowett, who had recently co-founded the Vancouver record label Nettwerk Records. McLachlan's finished high school and spent a year studying jewellery design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and signing with Nettwerk, with its co-founder Terry McBride as her manager. ==Career==

1987–92: Touch and Solace After taking nearly two years to build a repertoire, McLachlan recorded her first album, 1987's Touch. The album received both critical and commercial success. During this period she also contributed to an album by Moev, provided vocals on Manufacture's "As the End Draws Near", and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for another Nettwerk band, The Grapes of Wrath. McLachlan's 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 producer Pierre Marchand, who has been her collaborator ever since. The album was certified double platinum in Canada, and gold in the US. 1993–2002: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, The Freedom Sessions, Surfacing, Mirrorball 1993's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate hit in Canada. The song "Possession" was included on the first Due South soundtrack in 1996. Over the next two years, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy became McLachlan's international breakthrough as well, scaling the charts in a number of countries. Nettwerk was innovative; it was the first record label to have a website, which made McLachlan much more accessible. It was also the first label to release Enhanced CDs. In 1994, McLachlan released The Freedom Sessions, which was alternative versions of the songs from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. It became the first Enhanced CD to debut on the Billboard 200 and then be certified gold. In 1997, McLachlan released Surfacing. It was her best-selling album and earned her two Grammy Awards, one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for "Building a Mystery") and one for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for "Last Dance"). It also won four Juno Awards, including Album of the Year for Surfacing, and Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for "Building a Mystery". Reaching number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200, the album has since sold over 16 million copies. One song from Surfacing, "Angel", became a massive international hit and remains the unofficial song of mourning, loss and healing. It was inspired by the fatal overdose, in a hotel room, of Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin; McLachlan now knew how depressing endless touring can be. The song has touched millions, notably hip-hop artist Darryl McDaniels (Run-D.M.C.), who said it saved his life, and featured McLachlan on the track "Just Like Me" on his 2006 album Checks Thugs and Rock n Roll. In 1998, "Angel" featured in the motion picture City of Angels; that soundtrack reached number one on the Billboard 200. More than five months after the film disappeared from the theaters, the soundtrack remained firmly entrenched among Billboards top 40 albums and earned quadruple-platinum status. Another song from Surfacing, "Full of Grace", featured in the Season 2 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Season 1 episode 4 of ''Dawson's Creek; and the film Moll Flanders''. In June 1999, McLachlan released the live album Mirrorball. Its singles included a new live version of her 1995 song, "I Will Remember You", which had first been released on the soundtrack of the film The Brothers McMullen, and then on McLachlan's 1996 compilation album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff. As a single, in 1995, it peaked at No. 65 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 in Canada; the 1999 version peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100, reached No. 10 in Canada, and garnered McLachlan her third Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Also in 1999, McLachlan recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the Toy Story 2 soundtrack as the off-screen singing voice of the character Jessie. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the ceremony, but did not win. 2003–2006: Afterglow, Wintersong Following the death of her mother in December 2001, and the birth of her first daughter five months later, McLachlan took a break from music to focus on motherhood. She released her fifth studio album, Afterglow, in November 2003. The album was preceded by the single "Fallen" in September, while two of its tracks, "Stupid" and "World on Fire", were released as supporting singles the following year. McLachlan had contemplated the prospect of losing career momentum during the album's creation and has described its writing process as similar to "extracting blood from a stone". All songs for the album were written over a two and a half year period and recorded at either Marchand's home studio in Montreal or McLachlan's home studio in Vancouver. and re-recorded "World on Fire" with Robbie Robertson for the TNT series Into the West. The tour took place through 2005. Afterglow Live, a CD+DVD recording package of one of the Canadian stops was released in November 2004. In October 2006, McLachlan released a Christmas album, Wintersong. The album included 11 new recordings, including covers of Joni Mitchell's "River", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night", and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir. The title track is an original work of McLachlan's. Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum in the US in December 2007, selling 1.1 million copies by 2016. In Canada, it is certified 3× Platinum. 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. On October 3, 2006, the live album Mirrorball was re-released as Mirrorball: The Complete Concert. This release contains two discs that were compiled from two concerts performed on consecutive nights in April 1998 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Two compilation albums were then released: Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan in 2008 and, in 2010, The Essential. In the meantime, McLachlan was busy with Lilith Fair. Lilith Fair In 1996, McLachlan became frustrated with concert promoters and radio stations that refused to feature two female musicians in a row. The next year, McLachlan founded the Lilith Fair tour, taking the name "Lilith" from the medieval Jewish legend that Lilith was Adam's first wife who refused to be subservient to him. The 1997 tour earned $16 million, making it the top-grossing of any touring festival. Subsequent Lilith Fairs followed in 1998 and 1999 before the tour was discontinued. Nettwerk CEO and Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride announced that the all-female festival would make its return in mid-2010 in Canada, the United States, and Europe. A list of 36 North American shows was released, but poor ticket sales, financial problems, and headliners' withdrawing out of fear of not being paid, caused 13 of the shows to be cancelled. The European tour never materialized. But, as McBride once said: "It’s not about money. It has to be fresh and feel right. When that changes, we’ll stop doing it." The tour visited 30 cities all together. The Canadian leg included 25 shows in 21 cities. McLachlan won Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for Shine On at the Juno Awards in March 2015 and was additionally nominated for Artist of the Year, but did not win. 2016–2020: Wonderland On October 21, 2016, McLachlan released Wonderland, her ninth studio and second Christmas album. She promoted the album with various televised performances, including at the ''Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade'' on November 24; ABC's CMA Country Christmas special on November 28, and NBC's annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center special on November 30. That December, McLachlan released the single "The Long Goodbye". In January 2019, McLachlan was announced as the host of the Juno Awards of 2019. In an interview the following month, McLachlan stated that she was set to debut a new song titled "Wilderness" during her then-current tour. 2023–present: 30th anniversary of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Better Broken McLachlan participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's 2012 song "What I Wouldn't Do" in 2023. It was released as a charity single on March 2 to benefit the Feel Out Loud campaign by Kids Help Phone in support of youth mental health. At the end of the year, she announced a 30-city tour (her first major tour since her tour with Josh Groban in 2016) to be held in 2024 for the 30th anniversary of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993), with the setlist comprising the album's entire tracklist in addition to other songs from her repertoire; in November 2024, she cancelled the tour due to acute laryngitis, having postponed the tour earlier. In April 2025, she reannounced the previously cancelled Canadian dates. In April 2024, McLachlan stated she was working on new music with producer Tony Berg. Her tenth studio album, Better Broken, was released on September 19, 2025. McLachlan announced the Better Broken Tour in support of the album in September 2025 commencing in November the same year. Additional projects and guest appearances '' in 1998 In 1997, McLachlan co-wrote and provided guest vocals on the Delerium song "Silence" for their album Karma. The song achieved significant US top 40 airplay when released as a single in late 2000, and also featured on the soundtrack for the movie Brokedown Palace. It has been hailed as one of the greatest trance songs of all time, over a decade after its initial release. The Tiësto remix of the song was voted by Mixmag readers as the 12th greatest dance record of all time. 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, "Don't Let Go", was released on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song while Ash Sood did the drum work. In 2003, she appeared as a celebrity NPC in The Sims Superstar. In November 2006, McLachlan contributed "Ordinary Miracle" to the soundtrack of ''Charlotte's Web. There were rumors of a potential Oscar nomination for the song, but it was not nominated. She performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show''; during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; opening ceremony In 2009, McLachlan provided backing vocals and piano on Susan Enan's song "Bring on the Wonder", which was featured in the television show Bones. McLachlan included the song on her 2010 album Laws of Illusion. On September 10, 2011, McLachlan performed "I Will Remember You" and "Angel" at a ceremony in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, commemorating the passengers and crew of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 who fought the hijackers and brought down their airplane on September 11, 2001. The event marked the dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial and was attended by former president George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, former president Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker John Boehner. On June 13, 2019, McLachlan sang "O Canada" before Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. In 2025, McLachlan made a guest appearance on The Simpsons episode "Estranger Things", where she performed a parody of her song, "When She Loved Me". ==Legal issues==

In 1994, McLachlan was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa, who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of the single "Possession". Vandrei was an admitted stalker whose acknowledged goal in filing the lawsuit was to be near McLachlan. He committed suicide shortly before the trial began. In 1999, McLachlan was sued by Darryl Neudorf, a producer and former drummer for 54-40 who, when McLachlan first arrived in Vancouver, was hired by Nettwerk to help her write songs. Neudorf felt that he was owed credit and compensation for four of the resultant songs on her first album Touch; the judge disagreed and dismissed the case. ==Personal life==

McLachlan, who continues to reside in Greater Vancouver, married her drummer, Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica in 1997. They had two daughters, born in 2002 and 2008, and divorced in 2008. From 2009 to 2011, McLachlan was in a relationship with businessman Brett Wilson. From 2012 to 2015, she was in a relationship with former hockey star Geoff Courtnall. In 2014, when asked what religion she practices, she answered, "I don't adhere to any particular religion. I view the concept of God as an energy that we all are part of and share. If I had any spiritual leanings, it would be towards Buddhism...I follow my own path." ==Awards and achievements==

McLachlan has been nominated for 26 Juno Awards and has won twelve. In 1992, her video for "Into the Fire" won the Juno for Best Video. In 1998, Surfacing won the Best Album award, and "Building a Mystery" won Single of the Year. She won the awards for Best Female Vocalist and, with Marchand, Songwriter of the Year. Marchand also won the Best Producer award for "Building a Mystery". In 2000, she won the International Achievement Award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for Afterglow and shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Marchand for the singles "Fallen", "World on Fire", and "Stupid". In 2009, she was presented with the Juno Humanitarian Award. She won the Adult Contemporary Album of the year award in 2015 for "Shine On" and the same award in 2017 for "Wonderland". At this ceremony, she was also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. McLachlan has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards and has won three. She won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1998 for "Building a Mystery" and again in 2000 for the live version of "I Will Remember You". At the 1998 ceremony, she also won Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Last Dance". "Building a Mystery" was No. 91 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s. McLachlan 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 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. In 2002, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and, in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. McLachlan has received honours from four academic institutions. She was recognized with an honorary degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2009, and with one from Simon Fraser University in 2011. She received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta in 2013, and was named Honorary Fellow at Douglas College in 2025. In 2012, McLachlan was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2013, Kiwanis International presented McLachlan with the Kiwanis International World Service Medal to recognize her for founding the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a free music school for at-risk youth in Vancouver, British Columbia. McLachlan was awarded the Global Inspiration award at the 2018 SOCAN Awards "for her contributions to the music industry, for her profound impact on music education for Canadian youth through her School of Music, as well as for her acclaim as a songwriter in a career that's spanned 30 years". In 2024, McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. That year, Canada Post released a stamp in her honor. McLachlan has won the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award twice, once in 2011 and again in 2026. The award, presented by Canadian Music Week (now the Departure Festival), honors Canadian artists for their outstanding social activism and support of humanitarian causes. ==Philanthropy==

Sarah McLachlan School of Music McLachlan funds an outreach program providing music education for inner city children. Having noticed that music programs were being cut from the school curriculum, McLachlan started a free music school in 2002 using money that she had earned from the Lilith Fair tour to give children access to music instruction. In 2007, the provincial government granted $500,000 in funding for the outreach program. Originating as the "Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach", this program evolved into the Sarah McLachlan School of Music (SoM). SoM provides at-risk children who have limited opportunities for music education with free instruction in guitar, piano, percussion and choir composing, songwriting, stage production, voice, choir, music theory and new media. The school is housed in a converted bowling alley, donated in 2011 by the Wolverton Foundation. In 2024, SoM opened a program space in Douglas College in New Westminster. These music schools have the same initiatives as the Vancouver school. Most students stay in SoM for 8 years, until they graduate from high school. She did another parody on Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023, this time in a commercial for Busch Light. In 2022, McLachlan again spoofed the ASPCA commercials by doing a promotional spot for the shopping app Bolt. In return, Bolt donated $50,000. to the ASPCA. In 2011, McLachlan wrote a private letter on behalf of PETA to Canada’s minister of international trade, urging him to take action in the World Trade Organization's hearings on Canada's seal hunt. In 2012, also no behalf of PETA, she wrote to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to end the seal hunt. Other charitable contributions McLachlan contributed the track "Hold On" to the 1993 AIDS-benefit album No Alternative, produced by the Red Hot Organization. She also performed at the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund Benefit Concert on February 12, 1997, and went on to release a cover version of "Unchained Melody" created as part of her support for Peltier. It was later included on the album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2. 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. Entitled One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief, the concert raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia. 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 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. In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami. On November 30, 2012, McLachlan lent her support to Kate Winslet's Golden Hat Foundation, appearing with Tim Janis, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Corr, Hayley Westenra, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Dawn Kenney, Jana Mashonee, and Amy Petty, on "The American Christmas Carol" concert at Carnegie Hall. She performed at the same event, now named "Tim Janis The American Christmas Carol", in 2015. McLachlan is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism. ==Discography==

Studio albums • Touch (1988) • Solace (1991) • Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993) • Surfacing (1997) • Afterglow (2003) • Wintersong (2006) • Laws of Illusion (2010) • Shine On (2014) • Wonderland (2016) • Better Broken (2025) ==References==