Sarah McLachlan

Biography

Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2025, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album is Surfacing×Surfacing15 July 1997 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracks1Building a Mystery4:082I Love You4:443Sweet Surrender4:014Adia4:055Do What You Have to Do3:476Witness4:487Angel4:308Black & White5:029Full of Grace3:4110Last Dance2:32 (1997), for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. She has won three Grammy and twelve Juno Awards in total, and is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Early life

McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was raised as the youngest of three adopted children by Dorice McLachlan and her husband Jack, a marine biologist. She began playing the ukulele at age four then, for 12 years, studied classical guitar, piano, voice and opera at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts.
At 17, while still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a rock band called The October Game. After The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract by Moev's manager Mark Jowett, who had recently co-founded the Vancouver record label Nettwerk Records. McLachlan finished high school and spent a year studying jewellery design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and signing with Nettwerk, with its co-founder Terry McBride as her manager.

1987–1992: Touch and Solace

After taking nearly two years to build a repertoire, McLachlan recorded her first album, 1987's Touch×Touch28 September 1988 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Out of the Shadows5:022Steaming4:463Strange World4:094Touch3:165Vox4:506Sad Clown4:327Uphilll Battle4:408Ben's Song4:589Vox (extended remix)7:0010Ben's Song (78 version)5:10. The album received both critical and commercial success. During this period she also contributed to an album by Moev, provided vocals on Manufacture's "As the End Draws Near", and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for another Nettwerk band, The Grapes of Wrath.
McLachlan's 1991 album, Solace×Solace28 January 1991 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Drawn to the Rhythm4:122Into the Fire3:313The Path of Thorns (Terms)5:504I Will Not Forget You5:215Lost3:576Back Door Man4:127Shelter3:308Black5:089Home4:4610Mercy4:2311Wear Your Love Like Heaven3:19, was her mainstream breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles "The Path of Thorns (Terms)×The Path of Thorns (Terms)8 June 1991 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1The Path of Thorns (Terms) (radio edit)4:132The Path of Thorns (Terms) (album version)5:51" and "Into the Fire×Into the Fire27 September 1991 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Into the Fire3:302Sad Clown (CBC session)4:093Black (CBC session)4:36.” Solace also marked the beginning of her partnership with producer Pierre Marchand, who has been her collaborator ever since. The album was certified double platinum in Canada, and gold in the US.

1993–2002: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, The Freedom Sessions, Surfacing, Mirrorball

1993's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate hit in Canada. The song "Possession×Possession10 September 1993 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Possession (version I)4:392Possession (version II)5:023Fear (Janes mix)4:07" was included on the first Due South soundtrack in 1996. Over the next two years, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy became McLachlan's international breakthrough as well, scaling the charts in a number of countries. Nettwerk was innovative; it was the first record label to have a website, which made McLachlan much more accessible. It was also the first label to release Enhanced CDs. In 1994, McLachlan released The Freedom Sessions, which was alternative versions of the songs from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. It became the first Enhanced CD to debut on the Billboard 200 and then be certified gold.
Pushing along McLachlan's success was non-stop touring. Another way in which Nettwerk was different from other labels is that it did not chase radio—it believed in generating sales by putting artists in front of audiences. That meant constant touring; McLachlan's touring began in the latter half of 1988. She did not get a break until mid-1996.
In 1997, McLachlan released Surfacing. It was her best-selling album and earned her two Grammy Awards, one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for "Building a Mystery×Building a Mystery1997 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Building a Mystery4:092I Will Remember You4:543Possession4:404Angel (soft drum mix)4:31") and one for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for "Last Dance"). It also won four Juno Awards, including Album of the Year for Surfacing×Surfacing15 July 1997 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracks1Building a Mystery4:082I Love You4:443Sweet Surrender4:014Adia4:055Do What You Have to Do3:476Witness4:487Angel4:308Black & White5:029Full of Grace3:4110Last Dance2:32, and Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for "Building a Mystery". Reaching number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200, the album has since sold over 16 million copies.
One song from Surfacing, "Angel×Angel1999 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Angel4:342Ice Cream (live)3:293I Will Not Forget You (live)5:39", became a massive international hit and remains the unofficial song of mourning, loss and healing. It was inspired by the fatal overdose, in a hotel room, of Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin; McLachlan now knew how depressing endless touring can be. The song has touched millions, notably hip-hop artist Darryl McDaniels (Run-D.M.C.), who said it saved his life, and featured McLachlan on the track "Just Like Me" on his 2006 album Checks Thugs and Rock n Roll. In 1998, "Angel" featured in the motion picture City of Angels; that soundtrack reached number one on the Billboard 200. More than five months after the film disappeared from the theaters, the soundtrack remained firmly entrenched among Billboard's top 40 albums and earned quadruple-platinum status. Another song from Surfacing, "Full of Grace", featured in the Season 2 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Season 1 episode 4 of Dawson's Creek; and the film Moll Flanders.
In June 1999, McLachlan released the live album Mirrorball×Mirrorball15 June 1999 · Album · LiveSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Building a Mystery4:072Hold On5:193Good Enough5:124I Will Remember You3:445Adia3:596I Love You4:317Do What You Have to Do4:118The Path of Thorns (Terms)6:049Fear5:0210Possession5:1511Sweet Surrender4:0012Ice Cream3:0313Fumbling Towards Ecstasy5:4914Angel5:49. Its singles included a new live version of her 1995 song, "I Will Remember You×I Will Remember You23 June 1995 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1I Will Remember You4:562Ice Cream2:34", which had first been released on the soundtrack of the film The Brothers McMullen, and then on McLachlan's 1996 compilation album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff. As a single, in 1995, it peaked at No. 65 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 in Canada; the 1999 version peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100, reached No. 10 in Canada, and garnered McLachlan her third Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Also in 1999, McLachlan recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the Toy Story 2 soundtrack as the off-screen singing voice of the character Jessie. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the ceremony, but did not win.

2003–2006: Afterglow, Wintersong

Following the death of her mother in December 2001, and the birth of her first daughter five months later, McLachlan took a break from music to focus on motherhood. She released her fifth studio album, Afterglow×Afterglow4 November 2003 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Fallen3:472World on Fire4:223Stupid3:244Drifting3:235Train Wreck4:366Push3:567Answer3:588Time4:079Perfect Girl4:4310Dirty Little Secret3:54, in November 2003. The album was preceded by the single "Fallen×Fallen2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Anti-Gravity mix)10:292Fallen (Satoshi Tomiie Interpretation)10:033Fallen (Dan the Automator mix)3:42" in September, while two of its tracks, "Stupid×Stupid7 June 2004 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Stupid (Tom Lord Alge radio mix)3:242Stupid (Hyper remix)7:543World on Fire (Junkie XL radio mix)3:47" and "World on Fire×World on Fire2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1World on Fire (Tom Lord Alge radio mix)4:272World on Fire (Marius de Vries mix)4:483World on Fire (Junkie XL club mix)12:21", were released as supporting singles the following year. McLachlan had contemplated the prospect of losing career momentum during the album's creation and has described its writing process as similar to "extracting blood from a stone". All songs for the album were written over a two and a half year period and recorded at either Marchand's home studio in Montreal or McLachlan's home studio in Vancouver. Afterglow topped the Canadian Albums Chart, and debuted at No. 2 in the US with over 300,000 copies sold in its opening week. It has since been certified 5× platinum in Canada, and 2× platinum in the US. "Fallen" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, while Afterglow received a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.
Prior to embarking on the Afterglow Live tour in May 2004, McLachlan released the digital extended play Acoustic Live, which included renditions of two songs from Afterglow, and re-recorded "World on Fire" with Robbie Robertson for the TNT series Into the West. The tour took place through 2005. Afterglow Live, a CD+DVD recording package of one of the Canadian stops was released in November 2004.
In October 2006, McLachlan released a Christmas album, Wintersong×Wintersong17 October 2006 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Happy Xmas (War Is Over)3:292What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)3:313River4:024Wintersong3:315I’ll Be Home for Christmas3:156O Little Town of Bethlehem3:517The First Noel / Mary Mary5:008Silent Night3:489Song for a Winter’s Night3:4810Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas3:4411In the Bleak Mid-winter3:4612Christmas Time Is Here4:02. The album included 11 new recordings, including covers of Joni Mitchell's "River", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night", and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir. The title track is an original work of McLachlan's. Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum in the US in December 2007, selling 1.1 million copies by 2016. In Canada, it is certified 3× Platinum. Wintersong was nominated for both a Grammy Award, in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category, as well as for a Juno Award, for Pop Album of the Year.
On October 3, 2006, the live album Mirrorball×Mirrorball15 June 1999 · Album · LiveSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Building a Mystery4:072Hold On5:193Good Enough5:124I Will Remember You3:445Adia3:596I Love You4:317Do What You Have to Do4:118The Path of Thorns (Terms)6:049Fear5:0210Possession5:1511Sweet Surrender4:0012Ice Cream3:0313Fumbling Towards Ecstasy5:4914Angel5:49 was re-released as Mirrorball: The Complete Concert. This release contains two discs that were compiled from two concerts performed on consecutive nights in April 1998 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Two compilation albums were then released: Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan×Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan3 October 2008 · Album · CompilationSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 27 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Vox4:522Steaming4:443Ben’s Song4:544The Path of Thorns (Terms)5:515Into the Fire3:316Drawn to the Rhythm4:097Mercy4:228Possession4:399Hold On4:0910Good Enough5:0411Ice Cream2:4412Fumbling Towards Ecstasy4:51Disc 21Building a Mystery4:092Sweet Surrender4:013Adia4:054Angel4:315I Will Remember You (Live)3:346Fallen (Album Mix)3:477Stupid3:248World on Fire4:239Push3:4710Don’t Give Up On Us3:3611U Want Me 24:0612Hold On4:0713I Will Remember You4:5114World On Fire (Radio Mix)4:2915U Want Me 2 (Radio Mix)4:09 in 2008 and, in 2010, The Essential. In the meantime, McLachlan was busy with Lilith Fair.

Lilith Fair

In 1996, McLachlan became frustrated with concert promoters and radio stations that refused to feature two female musicians in a row. Bucking conventional industry wisdom, she booked a successful tour for herself and Paula Cole. At least one of their appearances together – in McLachlan's home town, on September 14, 1996 – went by the name "Lilith Fair" and included performances by McLachlan, Cole, Lisa Loeb, and Michelle McAdorey.
The next year, McLachlan founded the Lilith Fair tour, taking the name "Lilith" from the medieval Jewish legend that Lilith was Adam's first wife who refused to be subservient to him. The 1997 tour earned $16 million, making it the top-grossing of any touring festival. Among all concert tours for that year, it was the 16th highest grossing. The Lilith Fair tour brought together two million people over three years and raised more than $7 million for charity. 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. Subsequent Lilith Fairs followed in 1998 and 1999 before the tour was discontinued.
Nettwerk CEO and Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride announced that the all-female festival would make its return in mid-2010 in Canada, the United States, and Europe. A list of 36 North American shows was released, but poor ticket sales, financial problems, and headliners' withdrawing out of fear of not being paid, caused 13 of the shows to be cancelled. The European tour never materialized. But, as McBride once said: "It's not about money. It has to be fresh and feel right. When that changes, we'll stop doing it."
In 2025, McLachlan appeared in the documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story, which reflects on the legacy and cultural impact of the festival.

2014–2015: Shine On

In February 2011, citing the need for "change", McLachlan announced that she was ending her professional relationship with Terry McBride. Both parties insisted that the split was amicable.
On May 6, 2014, McLachlan released the studio album Shine On×Shine On6 May 2014 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1In Your Shoes3:542Flesh and Blood4:193Monsters3:134Broken Heart3:185Surrender and Certainty4:486Song for My Father3:187Turn the Lights Down Low3:578Love Beside Me4:379Brink of Destruction3:5910Beautiful Girl3:3411The Sound That Love Makes2:16, which was inspired by the 2010 death of her father. It was her first release on Verve Records, after leaving Nettwerk/Arista. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 42,000 copies sold during the week ending May 11. The 30-city U.S. Shine On tour began with a concert in Seattle on June 20. The Canadian leg, in October and November, included 25 shows in 21 cities. Shine On won Adult Contemporary Album of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards.

2016–2020: Wonderland

On July 17 in New Orleans, McLachlan began a 24-city US tour as the special guest of Josh Groban on his Stages tour, which wrapped at the end of August.
On October 21, 2016, McLachlan released Wonderland, her ninth studio and second Christmas album. She promoted the album with various televised performances, including at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, ABC's CMA Country Christmas special on November 28, and NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center special on November 30. That December, McLachlan released the single "The Long Goodbye×The Long Goodbye19 August 2016 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1The Long Goodbye4:33".
In January 2019, McLachlan was announced as the host of the Juno Awards of 2019.

2023–present: 30th anniversary of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Better Broken

McLachlan participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's 2012 song "What I Wouldn't Do" in 2023. It was released as a charity single on March 2 to benefit the Feel Out Loud campaign by Kids Help Phone in support of youth mental health. At the end of the year, she announced a 30-city tour (her first major tour since her tour with Josh Groban in 2016) to be held in 2024 for the 30th anniversary of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993), with the setlist comprising the album's entire tracklist in addition to other songs from her repertoire; in November 2024, she cancelled the tour due to acute laryngitis, having postponed the tour earlier. In April 2025, she reannounced the previously cancelled Canadian dates.
In April 2024, McLachlan stated she was working on new music with producer Tony Berg. Her tenth studio album, Better Broken×Better Broken19 September 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Better Broken4:002Gravity5:013The Last to Go3:344Only Way Out Is Through4:025Reminds Me3:496One In a Long Line3:447Only Human3:488Long Road Home4:029Rise3:3910Wilderness4:3811If This Is the End…5:3512All This Disaster3:22, was released on September 19, 2025. McLachlan announced the Better Broken Tour in support of the album in September 2025 commencing in November the same year.

Additional projects and guest appearances

In 1997, McLachlan co-wrote and provided guest vocals on the Delerium song "Silence×Silence1997 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Silence (Sanctuary mix) (edit)4:222Silence (album version) (edit)4:093Silence (Sanctuary mix)11:094Duende (Spiritual Collapse mix)8:27" for their album Karma. The song achieved significant US top 40 airplay when released as a single in late 2000, and also featured on the soundtrack for the movie Brokedown Palace. It has been hailed as one of the greatest trance songs of all time, over a decade after its initial release. The Tiësto remix of the song was voted by Mixmag readers as the 12th greatest dance record of all time.
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, "Don't Let Go", was released on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song while Ash Sood did the drum work.
In 2003, she appeared as a celebrity NPC in The Sims Superstar.
In November 2006, McLachlan contributed "Ordinary Miracle" to the soundtrack of Charlotte's Web. There were rumors of a potential Oscar nomination for the song, but it was not nominated. She performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show; during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
McLachlan participated in Dave Stewart's 2007 single "Go Green", alongside Nadirah X, Imogen Heap, Natalie Imbruglia, and others. The song was released in April of that year in honour of Earth Day.

In 2009, McLachlan provided backing vocals and piano on Susan Enan's song "Bring on the Wonder", which was featured in the television show Bones. McLachlan included the song on her 2010 album Laws of Illusion×Laws of Illusion5 June 2010 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 19 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Awakenings4:092Illusions of Bliss3:533Loving You Is Easy3:044Changes3:455Forgiveness3:506Rivers of Love3:557Love Come3:348Out of Tune3:529Heartbreak4:0710Don’t Give Up on Us3:3811U Want Me 24:0712Bring On the Wonder3:2413Love Come (piano version)4:05Disc 21Intro2Loving You Is Easy3Forgiveness4Rivers of Love5Love Come6Illusions of Bliss.
On September 10, 2011, McLachlan performed "I Will Remember You×I Will Remember You23 June 1995 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1I Will Remember You4:562Ice Cream2:34" and "Angel×Angel1999 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Angel4:342Ice Cream (live)3:293I Will Not Forget You (live)5:39" at a ceremony in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, commemorating the passengers and crew of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 who fought the hijackers and brought down their airplane on September 11, 2001. The event marked the dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial and was attended by former president George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, former president Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker John Boehner.
On June 13, 2019, McLachlan sang "O Canada" before Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
In 2025, McLachlan made a guest appearance on The Simpsons episode "Estranger Things", where she performed a parody of her song, "When She Loved Me".

Legal issues

In 1994, McLachlan was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa, who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of the single "Possession×Possession10 September 1993 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Possession (version I)4:392Possession (version II)5:023Fear (Janes mix)4:07". Vandrei was an admitted stalker whose acknowledged goal in filing the lawsuit was to be near McLachlan. He died by suicide shortly before the trial began.
In 1999, McLachlan was sued by Darryl Neudorf, a producer and former drummer for 54-40 who, when McLachlan first arrived in Vancouver, was hired by Nettwerk to help her write songs. Neudorf believed that he was owed credit and compensation for four of the resultant songs on her first album Touch×Touch28 September 1988 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Out of the Shadows5:022Steaming4:463Strange World4:094Touch3:165Vox4:506Sad Clown4:327Uphilll Battle4:408Ben's Song4:589Vox (extended remix)7:0010Ben's Song (78 version)5:10; the judge disagreed and dismissed the case.

Personal life

McLachlan, who continues to reside in Greater Vancouver, married her drummer, Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica in 1997. They had two daughters, born in 2002 and 2007, and divorced in 2008.
From 2009 to 2011, McLachlan was in a relationship with businessman Brett Wilson. From 2012 to 2015, she was in a relationship with former hockey star Geoff Courtnall.
In 2014, when asked what religion she practices, she answered, "I don't adhere to any particular religion. I view the concept of God as an energy that we all are part of and share. If I had any spiritual leanings, it would be towards Buddhism...I follow my own path."

Awards and achievements

McLachlan has been nominated for 26 Juno Awards and has won twelve. In 1992, her video for "Into the Fire×Into the Fire27 September 1991 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Into the Fire3:302Sad Clown (CBC session)4:093Black (CBC session)4:36" won the Juno for Best Video. In 1998, Surfacing won the Best Album award, and "Building a Mystery×Building a Mystery1997 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Building a Mystery4:092I Will Remember You4:543Possession4:404Angel (soft drum mix)4:31" won Single of the Year. She won the awards for Best Female Vocalist and, with Marchand, Songwriter of the Year. Marchand also won the Best Producer award for "Building a Mystery". In 2000, she won the International Achievement Award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for Afterglow×Afterglow4 November 2003 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Fallen3:472World on Fire4:223Stupid3:244Drifting3:235Train Wreck4:366Push3:567Answer3:588Time4:079Perfect Girl4:4310Dirty Little Secret3:54 and shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Marchand for the singles "Fallen×Fallen2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Anti-Gravity mix)10:292Fallen (Satoshi Tomiie Interpretation)10:033Fallen (Dan the Automator mix)3:42", "World on Fire×World on Fire2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1World on Fire (Tom Lord Alge radio mix)4:272World on Fire (Marius de Vries mix)4:483World on Fire (Junkie XL club mix)12:21", and "Stupid×Stupid7 June 2004 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Stupid (Tom Lord Alge radio mix)3:242Stupid (Hyper remix)7:543World on Fire (Junkie XL radio mix)3:47". In 2009, she was presented with the Juno Humanitarian Award. She won the Adult Contemporary Album of the year award in 2015 for "Shine On×Shine On6 May 2014 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1In Your Shoes3:542Flesh and Blood4:193Monsters3:134Broken Heart3:185Surrender and Certainty4:486Song for My Father3:187Turn the Lights Down Low3:578Love Beside Me4:379Brink of Destruction3:5910Beautiful Girl3:3411The Sound That Love Makes2:16" and the same award in 2017 for "Wonderland×Wonderland21 October 2016 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1The Christmas Song3:192Angels We Have Heard on High3:393Let It Snow3:054White Christmas2:245O Come All Ye Faithful3:226Go Tell It on the Mountains2:357Away in a Manger2:278Winter Wonderland2:509Huron Carol3:4710Silver Bells4:2311O Holy Night4:5612Amazing Grace4:0513Snow2:19". At this ceremony, she was also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
McLachlan has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards and has won three. She won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1998 for "Building a Mystery" and again in 2000 for the live version of "I Will Remember You×I Will Remember You23 June 1995 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1I Will Remember You4:562Ice Cream2:34". At the 1998 ceremony, she also won Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Last Dance". "Building a Mystery" was No. 91 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s.
McLachlan 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 in recognition of her successful recording career, her role in Lilith Fair, and the charitable donations she made to women's shelters across Canada. In 2001, she was inducted to the Order of British Columbia. In 2002, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and, in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2015, she received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.
McLachlan has received honours from four academic institutions. She was recognized with an honorary degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2009, and with one from Simon Fraser University in 2011. She received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta in 2013, and was named Honorary Fellow at Douglas College in 2025.
In 2012, McLachlan was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2013, Kiwanis International presented McLachlan with the Kiwanis International World Service Medal to recognize her for founding the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a free music school for at-risk youth in Vancouver, British Columbia.
McLachlan was awarded the Global Inspiration award at the 2018 SOCAN Awards "for her contributions to the music industry, for her profound impact on music education for Canadian youth through her School of Music, as well as for her acclaim as a songwriter in a career that's spanned 30 years".
In 2024, McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. That year, Canada Post released a stamp in her honor.
McLachlan has won the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award twice, once in 2011 and again in 2026. The award, presented by Canadian Music Week (now the Departure Festival), honors Canadian artists for their outstanding social activism and support of humanitarian causes.

Sarah McLachlan School of Music

McLachlan funds an outreach program providing music education for inner city children. Having noticed that music programs were being cut from the school curriculum, McLachlan started a free music school in 2002 using money that she had earned from the Lilith Fair tour to give children access to music instruction. In 2007, the provincial government granted $500,000 in funding for the outreach program. Originating as the "Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach", this program evolved into the Sarah McLachlan School of Music (SoM). SoM provides at-risk children who have limited opportunities for music education with free instruction in guitar, piano, percussion and choir composing, songwriting, stage production, voice, choir, music theory and new media.
The school is housed in a converted bowling alley, donated in 2011 by the Wolverton Foundation. In 2016, the school expanded to Edmonton, Alberta, operating from MacEwan University. In 2024, SoM opened a program space in Douglas College in New Westminster. These music schools have the same initiatives as the Vancouver school.
In the 2024/2025 school year, SoM provided group and private lessons to 1,754 students. Most students stay in SoM for 8 years, until they graduate from high school.

ASPCA and PETA

McLachlan supported the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by appearing in advertisements. In 2006, she filmed a two-minute advertisement for the organization, which featured her song "Angel×Angel1999 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Angel4:342Ice Cream (live)3:293I Will Not Forget You (live)5:39". The advertisement's imagery of shelter animals, mixed with the soundtrack and McLachlan's simple appeal for donations, has raised $30 million for the ASPCA, which the organization used to air appeals in higher-profile prime-time ad slots. The ASPCA produced a new ad for the 2008 holiday season featuring McLachlan appealing for the ASPCA over her Wintersong performance of "Silent Night", and a new ad with her was released in January 2009 featuring the song "Answer". While the spots brought McLachlan an entirely new audience, she became concerned that she was being seen as a "sad artist"; to offset that, she began to parody herself in widely-viewed ads. During Super Bowl XLVIII on February 3, 2014, McLachlan parodied her ASPCA appeals in an Audi commercial featuring a "Doberhuahua" dog gnawing on the neck of her guitar. She did another parody on Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023, this time in a commercial for Busch Light. In 2022, McLachlan again spoofed the ASPCA commercials by doing a promotional spot for the shopping app Bolt. In return, Bolt donated $50,000. to the ASPCA.
In 2011, McLachlan wrote a private letter on behalf of PETA to Canada’s minister of international trade, urging him to take action in the World Trade Organization's hearings on Canada's seal hunt. In 2012, also on behalf of PETA, she wrote to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to end the seal hunt.

Other charitable contributions

McLachlan contributed the track "Hold On×Hold On1 March 1994 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Hold On4:082Hold On II3:413Mary (early demo)3:58" to the 1993 AIDS-benefit album No Alternative, produced by the Red Hot Organization. She also performed at the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund Benefit Concert on February 12, 1997, and went on to release a cover version of "Unchained Melody" created as part of her support for Peltier. It was later included on the album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2.
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. Entitled One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief, the concert raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia.
On July 2, 2005, McLachlan participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, where she performed her hit "Angel×Angel1999 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Angel4:342Ice Cream (live)3:293I Will Not Forget You (live)5:39" with Josh Groban. These concerts 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.
In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami.
On November 30, 2012, McLachlan lent her support to Kate Winslet's Golden Hat Foundation, appearing with Tim Janis, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Corr, Hayley Westenra, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Dawn Kenney, Jana Mashonee, and Amy Petty, on "The American Christmas Carol" concert at Carnegie Hall. She performed at the same event, now named "Tim Janis The American Christmas Carol", in 2015.
McLachlan is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.

Studio albums

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