Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan was fortunate to have walked into the music industry at a time when labels were patient about developing artists and giving them time to mature at a reasonable pace. Her breakout album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993), was preceded by two albums recorded when she was still a teenager. Her lyrical maturity and hauntingly distinctive vocals have grown with each recording effort, and have subsequently rewarded her with an avalanche of platinum-selling albums, Grammy and Juno awards, and other accolades.
Aside from her personal success, McLachlan’s influence on opening up the airwaves and the public consciousness to women performers shouldn’t be understated. The successful Lilith Fair music festival, which she founded in 1997, offered up a spotlight to a wide range of deftly talented female artists, and raised $7 million for various charities along the way. Among her educational and philanthropic endeavors is the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach program, which provides free music education classes for inner-city kids in the Vancouver area, where she now makes her home.
What also should be appreciated is that McLachlan’s music has shown great adaptability — her songs gracefully lend themselves to remixes (Bloom, Delirium’s “Silence”), live efforts (Mirrorball, Afterglow Live), and holiday collections (Wintersong). But her regular catalog is where it’s really at: from the silky Surfacing (with the melancholy “I Will Remember You”) to Afterglow, and everything between and beyond, McLachlan’s grown into a stately, elegant lady of the pop manor. In late 2008, she released a career retrospective, Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan.
Provenance: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Latest release: Wintersong (2006)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Sarah McLachlan
