  Sarah McLachlan was born in Nova
Scotia Canada on January 28, 1968. Sarah has
become one of the most popular alternative
singer/songwriters in the 90s. Often
overshadowed by fellow alternative females, Sinéad
O'Connor and Tori
Amos, Sarah has now found her own
following by offering material that is often
honest and intimate. Throughout her
childhood, Sarah studied music including
classical guitar, piano, and voice lessons.
Before being big enough to play a guitar,
Sarah learned to play the ukulele. She was
"discovered" at age 17 while
playing with her band, October Game by
Nettwerk Productions and offered a record
deal. Sarah had to wait 2 years before
signing with Nettwerk to appease her parents
who reluctant for her to start in the
business too young. Sarah signed with
Nettwerk in October, 1987 and later with
Arista in December, 1988.
 Sarah introduced herself into
the musical mainstream with her debut LP, Touch. The LP grew in
popularity on college and alternative radio
with the force of the tracks, "Vox"
and "Steaming." Sarah's sound was
different than other singers with elements of
folk, rock, and even opera. Sarah's intimate
lyrics and musical arrangements were often
elaborate and unique. The LP went gold in her
native Canada and found respectable success
in the U.S. Q magazine review of the
LP commented on McLachlan: "...for all
her wispy, pseudo-Gaelic tendencies, she has
steel in her soul and a canny ear for
contemporary rhythms..."
 Sarah's second LP, Solace, was released after
touring in support of her first LP. The
sophomore effort found even more critical
success and international commercial success.
Tracks such as "Into The Fire" and
"Drawn To The Rhythm" further
clarified Sarah's style and unique vocals.
With the success of Solace, Sarah began a
16-month tour to support the LP. Tracks from
the tour were later released as a limited
edition live LP.
 # 169
Singles Artist of the Year
 Sarah released Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy. The LP further increased
Sarah's popularity and critical success and
became her biggest seller at that time with
consistent sales throughout '94, '95, and
into '96, selling over 3 million copies in
the U.S. The LP included such tracks as
"Possession" and "Good
Enough" as well as Sarah's song about
AIDS, "Hold On." The track was
later in included on the No
Alternative compilation LP and performed by
Sarah at a Lifebeat concert. Rolling
Stone said of the LP: "...there are
moments of quiet radiance... and even the
more elusive songs reveal a passionate
dignity..."
 Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy was certified gold.
Sarah won 2 MuchMusic Awards for
Favorite Female Video and Best Adult
Contemporary Video ("Possession").
 Sarah appeared on the Boys
On The Side soundtrack with "Ol'
55."
Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy was certified platinum.
Sarah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance (Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy).
 Sarah was one of the first
artists to embrace the multimedia
opportunities of the personal computer. Sarah
released The
Freedom Sessions which included
unreleased material, alternate versions of
songs, and computer interactive videos and
information.
Sarah contributed a track to the
Brothers
McMullen soundtrack, "I
Will Remember You."
 # 205
Singles Artist of the Year
 The import collection Rarities,
B-Sides, And Other Stuff was released.
Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy was certified 2x platinum.
 # 49
Singles Artist of the Year
 It was announced that Sarah had
married on a beach in Jamaica to long-time
musical partner, Ashwin Sood.
Solace was certified gold.
 When Surfacing was released
and it debuted at #2, becoming her highest
charting LP to date. Sarah got her first Top
10 pop hit with the LP's first release,
"Building A Mystery." Entertainment
Weekly said of the LP, "...never
have McLachlan's recordings sounded so dense
and alive."
Sarah organized the Lilith
Fair
summer tour which became known as a female
Lollapalooza. Sarah headlined the tour with
numerous, interchanging female artists
joining her at different venues. The Lilith
Fair
was one of the most successful summer tours
of the year. Sarah stated that the tour
"doesn't exclude men...it simply
celebrates women."
 The Lilith
Fair
not only created a strong statement about the
abundance of talented women in the music
industry, but is also helping women outside
the industry. The summer tour is donating $1
from every ticket sold to a charity in each
tour city. The charities include domestic
violence and sexual assault organization and
shelters. On the Lilith
Fair
tour concept itself, Sarah told MTV:
"Women have been very marginalized for a
very long time, in the industry and far
beyond that, and it's nice to see such a
quick turnaround within the industry. I don't
think all those old school minds are being
changed, but they're being forced to realize
we're a viable commodity. We make money, and
that's of course how the industry works, how
any big business works."
 Sarah hit the Top 40 with "Building A Mystery."
Surfacing was certified
platinum.
Sarah hit the Top 10 with "Building A Mystery."
 Sarah reflected on the impact of
the Lilith
Fair.
"I knew (the tour) would be successful,
but I didn't think the press would jump on it
like it was the best thing since sliced
bread. Nor did I think about a big success
from a financial standpoint - so much so that
we're already planning the next one. For me
that process was selfish, to try and create a
community for women in the industry that
never really existed before."
 Sarah hit the Top 40 with "Sweet
Surrender."
 # 18
Singles Artist of the Year
Surfacing was certified 2x
platinum.
Sarah hit the Top
10
with "Sweet
Surrender."
 Sarah won 2 Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance -
Female
("Building A Mystery") and Best Pop Instrumental
Performance ("Last Dance") and
was also nominated for Best Pop Album (Surfacing).
Sarah won 4 Juno Awards: Album
of the Year, Single of the Year for "Building A Mystery," Female Vocalist
of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year.
Sarah hit the Top 40 with "Adia."
 Sarah hit the Top 10 with "Adia."
Fumbling
Towards Ecstasy was certified 3x platinum and Surfacing was certified 3x
platinum.
Sarah came down with food
poisoning and had to step aside from
participating in the Lilith
Fair
concert in Ohio. It ended a 12-year streak of
not missing a performance.
 McLachlan spoke to CNN
about Lilith
Fair's
second year: "...we're just here to put
on a great musical show and I think any
social or political issues are secondary,
although very important, because it is a
music festival first and foremost... yet, we
have a great opportunity and great platform
to talk about a lot of issues that are
important to me and a lot of us as women and
human beings."
The single "Adia" was certified
gold.
 At the MuchMusic Video Awards
Sarah's video for "Sweet
Surrender" won for Best Editing and
People's Favorite Canadian Video.
Sarah appeared in a Canadian
court because of a lawsuit claiming Sarah
wasn't the only songwriter on 4 of the songs
from her 1988 LP, Touch ("Vox,"
"Steaming," "Strange
World," and "Sad Clown").
Surfacing was certified 4x
platinum and Sarah hit the Top 40 with "Angel."
 # 5
Singles Artist of the Year
 Surfacing was certified 5x
platinum.
Sarah hit the Top
10
with "Angel."
Sarah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance -
Female
("Adia").
 "Angel" topped the
Billboard Adult Top 40 chart for 7 weeks and
the Billboard Top 40 Tracks chart for a week.
"Angel" topped the
Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for 12
weeks.
 Surfacing was certified 6x
platinum.
Sarah was 1 of a few artists
named Pop Songwriter of the Year by BMI.
Sarah hit the Top 40 with the
live version "I
Will Remember You."
 Sarah was hard to miss in the
spring with a live LP, Mirrorball, 2 new Lilith
Fair
CD compilations, the kick-off of the 3rd and
possibly last summer of the Lilith
Fair
tour this summer, and a cookbook. Sarah has
said of the end of Lilith
Fair:
"We're all well into our 30s now and we
decided we wanted to have babies... This will
be the last year for a good, long while. It
could be 3 years, it could be 10 years, it
could be forever." Sarah also described
herself as too much of a "control
freak" to allow someone else to take
over the Lilith
Fair
organization.
 Sarah hit the Top
10
with "I
Will Remember You."
Sarah could be heard on the
benefit LP No
Boundaries: A Benefit For The Kosovar
Refugees with "Mary."
Ranked # 69 on VH1: 100
Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.
 Mirrorball was certified platinum
and topped the Billboard Internet Album Sales
chart for 6 weeks.
Surfacing was certified 7x
platinum.
Mirrorball was certified 2x
platinum.
 Sarah performed in West
Hollywood at an autism benefit and won a
MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice
Canadian Artist.
Sarah hit the Top 40 with the
live version of "Ice
Cream."
The
Freedom Sessions was certified gold.
 Sarah also contributed to a
cookbook by her touring chef, Plenty:
A Collection Of Sarah McLachlan's Favorite
Recipes.
Sarah could be heard on the
soundtrack to Toy
Story 2 with "When She Loved
Me."
 Sarah was vindicated in court in
Canada when a lawsuit brought on by a
producer claiming more credit for involvement
with McLachlan's LP, Touch, was thrown out by the
judge.
Sarah topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers with the Top Hot Adult
Contemporary Track ("Angel").
 Sarah was awarded the Order of
Canada with the title of officer.
Sarah won another Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance -
Female
("I
Will Remember You") and was nominated for
Best Pop Album (Mirrorball), and Best Rock Vocal
Performance - Female ("Possession").
Sarah's 1st LP Touch was certified gold.
 Sarah won the International
Achievement Award at the Juno Awards.
Mirrorball was certified 3x
platinum.
Sarah's "I
Will Remember You" was used without
permission in a controversial videotape of
last year's Columbine school shootings
currently being sold to the public. Sarah and
her record company demanded that the song be
removed from what they called an
"...exploitative video tape."
 Sarah could be heard on
alternative radio and the dance floor helping
out Delerium with
"Silence."
Sarah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("The Difficult Kind" with Sheryl
Crow).
 Sarah released a remix LP, Remixed in Canada.
Surfacing was certified 8x
platinum.
 Sarah could be heard on the
soundtrack for I
Am Sam with her cover of
"Blackbird."
Sarah gave birth to a baby girl
- India Ann Sushil Sood.
Sarah could be heard with the
track "Rainbow Connection" on the
compilation For
The Kids.
 Sarah could be heard on the
holiday LP - Maybe
This Christmas with "God Rest Ye Merry
Gentlemen" with the Barenaked
Ladies.
 # 130
Singles Artist of the Year
Sarah hit the Top 40 with "Fallen."
Sarah topped the Billboard Hot
Digital Tracks chart for a week with "Fallen."
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