Sarah Ann McLachlan is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing (1997), for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians.
She signed with Nettwerk in her teens, moved to Vancouver, and released her debut album, Touch, in the late 1980s, followed by Solace (1991). Her breakthrough came with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993), led by “Possession.” Surfacing (1997) pushed her to global fame via “Building a Mystery,” “Adia,” “Sweet Surrender,” and “Angel,” and the live set Mirrorball (1999) cemented her stature on tour.
Across her career, McLachlan has earned three GRAMMY wins and 14 nominations, including recognition for Wonderland in the Traditional Pop field. Major studio releases since 2000 include Afterglow (2003), Wintersong (2006), Laws of Illusion (2010), Shine On (2014), and Wonderland (2016).
Beyond her own catalog, McLachlan is best known as the founder and face of Lilith Fair — the women-led touring festival that ran from 1997–99 and briefly returned in 2010—created to counter industry bias and put female artists on the biggest stages.
Her philanthropy is equally central to her legacy. In 2002 she launched the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, which provides free, barrier-free music education to underserved youth in British Columbia and Alberta.
McLachlan’s career has also been recognized with national honors: she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada (1999) and later inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (2017).
Recent chapter: in 2025 she released Better Broken, her first album of new material in 11 years, and announced a short U.S. run in support — signaling a renewed creative phase after years focused on family, philanthropy, and selective touring.
Awards snapshot: three GRAMMYs, a dozen Juno Awards, and enduring influence through Lilith Fair’s model of coalition and visibility for women in music.
