Biography

 The beautiful and talented Sarah Ann McLachlan was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on January 28th, 1968 to "Judy", a twenty year old student at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. Unable and unwilling to suport a child at that age and time, Judy did all that she could, so she decided to avoid abortion and instead give baby Sarah up for adoption. Sarah was then adopted by Americans Jack and Dorice McLachlan and became the third of three adopted siblings (Sarah had two older brothers- the brothers have refused to release their names). As well as being an accomplished vocalist Sarah is a versatile musician thanks to her extensive study of both classical guitar and piano at the Nova Scotia Royal Conservatory since a very young age. She considered herself an outcast in school, with what she describes as greasy, curly hair (The boys called her medusa) and crooked teeth. Due to her unpopularity, Sarah took shelter in her music (Sarah was described to be most likely to be a rock star in the yearbook). At the age of 17, as part of a new wave band called October Game, Sarah was "discovered" by Mark Jowett of Nettwerk records. However, she was not permitted, by her strict and reluctant parents, to sign a deal with Nettwerk until two years later (In order to complete high-school). Sarah was originally approached to become the lead singer of a Nettwerk band called Moev, but thanks to the two-year wait, Nettwerk's President, Terry McBride, offered her a new contract, this time to become a solo artist.

At age 20, Sarah released her debut album, Touch which went gold in Canada and was critically acclaimed. It was apparent that Sarah had truly bloomed into the woman she had been deprived of for the last decade of her life. Solace, her second album - this time followed by an extensive and exhausting 16 month tour, was even more sucessful. Shortly after the release of Solace, Sarah became a victim of a stalker named Uwe Vandrei (Uwe was an Ottawa-based computer programmer. Coincedence? I think not...). Vandrei sent threatening letters to both Sarah and her manager and even made disturbing comments to Sarah in person. Unfortunately he was not able to recieve psychological help because he took his own life, following a desperate effort to bring Sarah to court on the grounds that she used his threatening letters as the basis for her hit single "Possession". Finally, Fumbling Towards Ecstacy, her third and most successful album (Triple platinum and still getting bigger, despite having never even broken the top 50), was a release from her heavy schedule, taking a much more personal angle. Sarah describes it as being a "therapy". Fumbling Towards Ecstacy was recorded at the Ciel Sauvage (Wild Sky) recording studio deep in the forests of British Columbia. There with her long friend and former lover, producer Pierre Marchand, they wrote and composed the multi-platinum record. Sarah says that being alone with nature had helped her write her songs, which this time had deeper meaning unlike earlier in her career, because according to Sarah "... I hadn't yet begun to live..."

Sarah's growth as both a songwriter and performer is her most credited quality. For example, Touch consists of songs which could be described as "gothic", almost new-age in style; Solace is clearly the transition from this New-age style to a folk-Rock style; and finally Fumbling Toward Ecstacy displays how it is clear that Sarah had completed this transition to an alternative-folk-rock style, however The gothic aura remains in her songs still, almost as a vocal signature. Sarah released a Multimedia EP CD-ROM called The Freedom Sessions in 1995, which includes eight of her songs in their alternative takes, as well as a bonus multi-media track. Sarah released a special B-SIDE album called Rarities, B-sides, and Other Stuff released on June 25, 1996.

After touring for over two years non-stop in support of Fumbling Towards Ecstacy Sarah suffered from a severe case of writers block. Sarah had come to a hasty premise that creating a record would in turn equal more touring. Touring, which had taxed her emotionally and especially physically was the last thing she had on her mind. In 1996 she had planned to take the year off, but instead ended up making the Rarities album as well as touring for the proto-Lilith Fair and a few dates opening for Sting. When the dust had settled she realized that she had less than six months to write another album in compliance to her contract with Nettwerk and most importantly, her U.S. distributor, Arista records. Songwriting had become her job instead of her passion, and soon Sarah found herself to be a drift in confusion and abandoned by inspiration. Showing her strong and modest character Sarah found the time to marry her long-time drummer, Ashwin Sood (whom she had dated for two years prior), on February 7, 1997 in a small gazebo overlooking the Carribean sea, while vacationing in Jamaica. With her marriage to Ash, brings a new era for Sarah's music. No longer in need of songs searching for the answers to her love-sickness, Sarah describes her fourth full-length album, Surfacing, as "...about me finally growing up and facing the ugly things about myself. We all have a dark side; it's bullshit to say that we don't. At some point we're going to have to face that." Perhaps when she solves this era of her life she will finally be happy, ok maybe not...

Sarah also created the "Lilith Fair", a celebration of women in music, the summer of 1996 as an experiment touring only several venues, but with it's great preliminary success it began full scale July 5, 1997 touring over 35 venues. Sarah says that the inspiration came from a dispute between Sarah and promoters after she was given a hard time when requesting Paula Cole to be her opening act. The promoters believed that no one would pay to see more than one female on a concert bill. It was sweet justice when Sarah made them eat their words when Lilith fair became the hot ticket of 1997 filling venues to capacity and satisfying the millions. Sarah also thought it would be a good idea to both, see her counterparts in action and to bring the women of rock together as opposed to fighting for the scraps left by the male-dominated music industry. In fact, in the past two years there has been a complete role reversal in the industry making jobs for male musicians hard to come by. Sarah has become one of the visionaries in this revolution for the music of the "other" sex. The character of Lilith was an idea provided by an acquaintance of Sarah who told her that Lilith was, when discussing what to name this new festival. According to hebrew folklore, Lilith was Adam's first wife. Lilith, being created from the dust of which Adam came (as opposed to Adam's rib in which Eve came), demanded to be equal and when Adam refused to yield to her rebelioussness and opposition to subservience, Lilith left eden and according to the story became a demon who attacked men (of course this story was written by men). In essence, Lilith was the first feminist. To shed the negative connotations in using "Lilith" as team mascot, Sarah added "Fair", suggesting a Festival and celebration as well as fairness and equality. Lilith Fair provided a refreshing alternative to the harder rock and rap of the Lollapalooza and H.O.R.D.E festivals to compliment the rise of the empathetic and rebellious female folk-rock of the mid 1990's. Lilith Fair features such huge names as Jewel, Sheryl Crow, the Indigo Girls, Paula Cole, Tracy Chapman, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Fiona Apple, Sarah McLachlan herself, and a legion of up-and-coming artists.

In only a week of release Surfacing recieved incredible reviews and debuted at #2 in the United States (#1 in Canada) selling only about 7,000 records shy of the goliath Men in Black soundtrack. Surfacing's first single "Building a Mystery" was a hit right off it's release becoming a number 1 single on charts from CMG, Gavin's, and Radio and Records within less than a month's time. It has been speculated by critics that Surfacing has the potential to become immensely successful, possibly feeding off fans who have become weary of the insurgent popularity of Jewel and Paula Cole, and to supply fresh material to her already wide cult-like fan base.