Sarah McLachlan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Sarah McLachlan is a Canadian singer-songwriter, born in 1968 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She grew up as the youngest of three adopted children and studied classical guitar, piano, voice and opera for twelve years. At seventeen she sang in the rock band The October Game. After a performance in Halifax she was offered a contract by Nettwerk Records, the Vancouver label to which she moved. Terry McBride, co-founder of the label, became her manager.

Music and breakthrough

Her debut album Touch was released in 1988. Solace from 1991 brought the breakthrough in Canada and marked the start of her collaboration with the producer Pierre Marchand. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy from 1993 made her known internationally as well. Nettwerk did not rely on radio, but on relentless touring, and she was on stage almost without a break. With Surfacing in 1997 she had her greatest success, with Building a Mystery, Last Dance and Angel among others. With it she won two Grammy Awards and four Juno Awards.

Influence

Angel, written after the death of the Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, became a song about grief and consolation and was heard in the film City of Angels. Her music is calm and melodic, with a clear, sensitive voice, piano and acoustic guitar, and lyrics about longing, loss and recovery. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. She showed that a singer with understated songs can reach the whole world.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

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

See also

• Afterglow