Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. She founded Lilith Fair, a tour which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.

Known for the emotional sound of her ballads, some of her popular songs include "Angel", "Building a Mystery", "Adia", "Possession", "I Will Remember You", "World on Fire", and "Into the Fire". Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four Juno Awards.

Early life
Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, and adopted in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a child, she took voice lessons, along with studies in classical piano and guitar. When she was 17 years old, and still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a short-lived rock band called "The October Game". Her high school yearbook claimed that she was "destined to become a
famous rock star."

Following The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract with Vancouver based independent record label Nettwerk by Moev's Mark Jowett. McLachlan's parents convinced her to finish her studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before embarking on a new life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to Nettwerk two years later before having written a single song.

Touch and Solace
The signing prompted McLachlan to move to Vancouver, British Columbia. There she recorded the first of her albums, Touch, in 1988, which received both critical and commercial success and included the hit song "Vox". During this period she also contributed to an album by Moev, and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for The Grapes of Wrath.

Her 1991 album, Solace, was her mainstream breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" and "Into the Fire".

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Surfacing,
and Lilith Fair
1993's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate smash hit in Canada. From her Nettwerk connection, her piano version of the song "Possession" was included on the first Due South television series soundtrack in 1996. Over the next two years, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy quietly became McLachlan's international breakthrough as well, scaling the charts in a number of countries. Rolling Stone Magazine has listed it as one of the top 100 best albums of all-time and it set the stage for 1997's Surfacing, which debuted at the top of the charts amid the hype around Lilith Fair. The McLachlan-founded Lilith Fair tour brought together 2 million people over its three-year history and raised more than $7 million for charities. It was the most successful all-female music festival in history, one of the biggest music festivals of the 1990s, and helped launch the careers of several well-known female artists.

Sarah McLachlan performing for Good Morning America in 1998On February 7, 1997, she married Ashwin Sood, her long-time drummer, in Negril, Jamaica. In 1998, she performed three songs with rock band Phish at the annual Bridge School Benefit concert in California, hosted by Neil Young, after which McLachlan began an extended period away from recording or touring. However, she did release a live album in 1999, entitled Mirrorball, which produced the single "I Will Remember You." Also that year, McLachlan recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the Toy Story 2 soundtrack. This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the awards ceremony, but the award went to "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan, written and recorded by Phil Collins.

In 2000, McLachlan co-wrote the Delerium song "Silence" and provided guest vocals. This song achieved a modest amount of top 40 airplay and was also part of the soundtrack for the movie Brokedown Palace. 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 was released on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song "Don't Let Go" while Sood did the drum work.

McLachlan also participated in several concerts during her break, such as Sheryl Crow's Live from Central Park in 1999, the Arista Records 25th anniversary celebration in 2000, as well as the 2002 British Columbia Cancer Foundation Benefit Concert in memory of cancer victim Michele Bourbonnais. She participated along with four other Canadian artists: Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, and Chantal Kreviazuk.

McLachlan lost her mother to cancer in December 2001, while McLachlan herself was pregnant. McLachlan gave birth to a daughter named India Ann Sushil Sood on April 6, 2002, in Vancouver. By this time, McLachlan had already completed three-quarters of the production on her next record, Afterglow.

Mirrorball: The Complete Concert
On October 3, 2006, the live album Mirrorball was re-released as Mirrorball: The Complete Concert. This release contains 2 discs that span over 2 hours of a concert performed in Portland, Oregon, in April 1998.

Afterglow and associated philanthropy
Sarah McLachlan returned to public life and touring with her 2003 album release, Afterglow, which contained the singles "Fallen", "Stupid", and "World On Fire." Rather than shoot a conventional music video for "World On Fire", McLachlan donated all but $15 of the $150,000 budget to various charitable causes around the world and then used the video to explain how it benefited the communities that received the money.

Although she has returned to touring, she has no current plans to resurrect Lilith Fair. Another live album, Afterglow Live, was released in late 2004. The CD consisted of several tracks from a full-length concert which was included in its entirety on a DVD, as well as the three music videos from Afterglow.

In 2004, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, who credits McLachlan and her music for lifting him from a period of depression, invited her to join him on a track from his solo album. Although the album was not released until early 2006, remixes of the song "Just Like Me"
were included on a number of
compilations in 2005.

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 from the aforementioned Vancouver outreach program. The concert was titled One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief, and raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia. The show was the brainchild of McLachlan's manager, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. It ran for four hours and aired live on CTV across Canada.

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, which were held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world, 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.

Wintersong
McLachlan handwrote a letter, copies of which were sent to members of her fan club in late March 2006, stating that she was beginning work on a holiday album due to be released later that year.

On July 29th, a press release [1] announced Sarah would be releasing a new album October 17 titled Wintersong on Arista Records. The first new studio recording since the 2003 release of Afterglow, the album includes 11 new recordings, featuring covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir, and seasonal favorites interpreted by Sarah with her signature style: "Christmas Time Is Here," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Silent Night," "The First Noel," and "Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)", among others. Included, also, is the title track, an original work of McLachlan's.

Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 album chart the week ending November 4, 2006. It has peaked at #7 and has sold 346,561 copies in the US to date. For the week of December 5, 2006, it was the
#1 album on iTunes.

Her Next Album
Sarah McLachlan stated in an interview with Billboard on October 18, 2006, that she has written one song, and starting in the new year, she'll focus more on writing a new album.[2]

Awards and achievements
Sarah McLachlan has been nominated for nineteen Juno Awards and awarded eight. In 1992, her video for "Into The Fire" was selected as best music video. In 1998, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (along with Pierre Marchand), Single of the Year for "Building A Mystery", and Album of the Year for Surfacing. In 2000, she won an International Achievement award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for Afterglow and again shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Pierre Marchand for the singles "Fallen", "World on Fire", and "Stupid."

She has also won three Grammy Awards. She was awarded Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 for "Building A Mystery" and again in 1999 for the live version of "I Will Remember You." She also scored Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1997
for "Last Dance."

McLachlan has been extensively profiled by media including cover stories for Rolling Stone, Time magazine and
Entertainment Weekly.

Through her career, she has also received many awards, primarily in recognition of her efforts in launching Lilith Fair. She 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 by then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in recognition of her successful recording career, her role in Lilith Fair, and the charitable donations she made to women's shelters across Canada. McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides music education for inner city children. In 2001, she was awarded the Order
of British Columbia.

On a number of occasions, McLachlan has also found herself in the news
for other reasons:

In 1994, she was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa, Ontario, who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of her hit single "Possession". This lawsuit never came to trial, however, as the plaintiff was found dead in an apparent suicide before the trial began. The lawsuit was also challenging for the Canadian legal system; because of Vandrei's psychological state, special precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if at any time she had to be in the same location as Vandrei. This topic was explored in length in Canadian author Judith Fitzgerald's book, Building A Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan
& Lilith Fair.

In 1998, the title of McLachlan's song "Do What You Have to Do" was cited in Kenneth Starr's report as the subject of a letter from Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton.

In 1998, The Song 'Full of Grace' was used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the episode Becoming Part 2.

In 1999, McLachlan and Nettwerk were sued by Darryl Neudorf, a Vancouver musician (and onetime member of 54-40) who alleged that he had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the song writing on Touch.
The judge in this suit ultimately ruled
in McLachlan's favor.

In 2001, McLachlan covered the Beatles song 'Blackbird' for the movie I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer
and Dakota Fanning.

In 2004, McLachlan's song "The Path of Thorns" was the 50 millionth song downloaded from Apple's iTunes Music Store. [2] Her song I Will Remember You has been used all over the U.S. as a graduation song. Her song "Angel" has been used to
remember the dead.

Many of McLachlan's songs have had a great deal of club play as remixes. Two albums consisting of popular remixes have been released, Remixed in 2001 (first limited to Canada, then released in the U.S. in 2003) and Bloom: Remix Album in 2005.

Rapper Darryl McDaniels A.K.A. DMC from Run DMC credits McLachlan with saving him from suicide after he heard the song 'Angel' and was able to reassess his life through listening to the album Surfacing. They appeared together on the track 'Just Like Me' in 2006.

As of 2006, McLachlan has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

Discography
Touch
Released: January, 1989
Chart Positions: #132 U.S., # CAN,
U.S. certification: Gold
U.S. Sales: 500,000
CAN certification: Platinum
CAN Sales: 150,000
Worldwide sales: 1 Million

Solace
Released: October, 1991
Chart Positions: #167 U.S., #? CAN,
U.S. certification: Gold
U.S. Sales: 700,000
CAN certification: 2x Platinum
CAN Sales: 200,000
Worldwide sales: 1.2 Million

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Released: October, 1993
Chart Positions: #50 U.S., #? CAN,
U.S. certification: 3x Platinum
U.S. Sales: 3 million
CAN certification: 5x Platinum
CAN Sales: 500,000
Worldwide sales: 5 Million

Surfacing
Released: July, 1997
Chart Positions: #2 U.S., #1 CAN, #38 U.K.
U.S. certification: 8x Platinum
U.S. Sales: 8 million
CAN certification: Diamond
CAN Sales: 1 million
Worldwide sales: 11 Million

Afterglow
Released: November, 2003
Chart Positions: #2 U.S., #1 CAN, #33 U.K.
U.S. certification: 2x Platinum
U.S. Sales: 2.5 million
CAN certification: 5x Platinum
CAN Sales: 500,000
Worldwide sales: 4 Million

Wintersong
Released: October 17, 2006
Chart Positions: # 7 U.S., # 3 CAN, #- U.K.
U.S. certification: Gold
U.S. Sales: - 346,561
CAN certification: Platinum
CAN Sales: - 100,000
Worldwide sales: - 400,000+

[edit] Live Albums
Album cover Album information
Live EP
Released: 1992
Chart Positions: # - U.S.
U.S. certification: Not Certified
U.S. Sales: 150,000
CAN certification: Not Certified
CAN Sales: 25,000
Worldwide sales: 250,000

The Freedom Sessions
Released: 1994
Chart Positions: #78 U.S.
U.S. certification: Gold
U.S. Sales: 400,000
CAN certification: Platinum
CAN Sales: 100,000
Worldwide sales: 600,000

Mirrorball
Released: June, 1999
Chart Positions: #3 U.S.
U.S. certification: 3x Platinum
U.S. Sales: 3,000,000
CAN certification: 5x Plainum
CAN Sales: 500,000
Worldwide sales:  Million

Afterglow Live
Released: 2004
Chart Positions: #107 U.S.
U.S. certification: Not Certified
U.S. Sales: 100,000
CAN certification: Not Certified
CAN Sales: 40,000
Worldwide sales: 200,000

Mirrorball: The Complete Concert
Released: October, 2006
Chart Positions:
U.S. certification:
U.S. Sales:
CAN certification:
CAN Sales:
Worldwide sales:

[edit] Other Albums
Album cover Album information
Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff
Released: 1996
Chart Positions:
U.S. certification: Not Certified
U.S. Sales: 200,000
CN certification: Platinum
CN Sales: 100,000
Worldwide sales: 400,000

Remixed
Released: December, 2003
Chart Positions: #200 U.S.
U.S. certification: Not Certified
U.S. Sales: 150,000
CN certification: Not Certified
CN Sales: 35,000
Worldwide sales: 300,000

Bloom: Remix Album
Released: September, 2005
Chart Positions: #76 U.S.
U.S. Sales: 100,000
U.S. certification: Not Certified
U.S. Sales: 100,000
CN certification: Not Certified
CN Sales: 25,000
Worldwide sales: 200,000