Interview with Sarah McLachlan

If you like Dido, Norah Jones, Jewel, or any of the other melodic female songstresses to emerge in the last few years, you owe a fair bit to Sarah McLachlan, even if you've never heard of her

McLachlan was the originator of Lilith Fair, the phenomenally successful women's music festival, which sprang from an incident when she wasn't allowed a female support act on tour. The promoter told her, 'You can't put two women on the same bill -- people won't come!'

Its extraordinary success led to record companies more willing to take risks on women right across the industry.
Sarah is a huge star in her native Canada and in America, where she's sold over twelve million albums. She's visiting Britain to show off her lovely, wistful new CD, Afterglow. iVillage managed to catch up with her in London. Beautiful, with long brown hair and huge eyes, (just how a dreamy folky singer ought to look), she's missing her family but pretty pleased to be here.

How are you enjoying the UK?

It's been sunny every day since I got here! I can't believe the weather (of course, Sarah's just arrived from Canada). There's lot to like about London - the architecture's incredible. And radio DJs aren't rude to you here. They are in other places.

How do you manage all your different roles?

Really, I don't know how I keep it all together. Well, I'm not much different from other working mothers except my job makes me travel a lot. I'm lucky in that I get to take my daughter with me (India is three - her husband, Ashwin Sood, is also the drummer in her band) mostly, though not on this trip.

It's a juggling act, trying to give as much as I can to work, and to being a parent. And the charity stuff isn't that hands-on right now. It's mostly run through an umbrella arts organisation. (After recording her last album, 1997's Surfacing, and finishing with Lilith Fair, Sarah began funding a musical Outreach Programme which provides free musical tuition to inner city youths whose school music programmes have been affected by budget cuts).

You must be a very organised person.

No, I'm very disorganised! There are lots of people around me who help, but I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of a gal.
She laughs, conscious of her status as a feminst icon.
"Actually, my husband pays the bills. I hate all that stuff."

How do you keep looking good?

I have a very good make up artist! No, I do yoga, I run trails, I surf and I snowboard, although not very often the latter two. I'm not allowed! If I break a wrist before my tour it's not very smart.
I eat well. Don't smoke, barely drink. Everything in moderation. It's boring, I know. But chocolate is very important.

You famously make people cry when you sing. What makes you cry?

Well, the great thing about music is that it's capable of moving people. There are a lot of bad things in the world that bring people to tears, but music is an amazing connector. People tell me all the time that the things I write about quite often make them feel less alone, because someone else has gone through the messed up things they have. It makes the world a little smaller, I guess.

Not seeing my kid makes me cry. When she told me she loved me for the first time on the telephone, I really missed her. Mind you, I'm a real softy. I'll cry at almost anything. I think after having a kid it gets worse. A sappy movie, anything- recently I started crying at a commercial!

Do you prefer touring or recording?

I love both, but playing live is really immediate gratification. Although touring gets tiresome, being in a different city every day, the hour and a half of playing makes that worthwhile. Being in the studio is harder work, but I get to be at home. But there's more soul searching and mining involved in writing songs. More brainwork, whereas playing live is heart-work- it's easier.

How do your family treat you?

My dad is very proud of me. He has a huge scrapbook. It's really sweet, but also quite embarrassing- he hauls it out all the time and I'm like 'oh, look at those eyebrows!'

How do you feel about the Lilith Fair experience now?

It was fantastic- it's amazing to me that it's lived on, and people keep asking us about it, and hoping we do it again. That's a nice feeling. We wanted to go out on a high, and I think we achieved that. The three years were just crazy, and we wanted to leave at the top of our game.

I suggest that they'll also be able to reform in twenty years, like Duran Duran, if they need the money. Her huge brown eyes widen.

'I certainly hope that won't be necessary!'

And, on the evidence of Afterglow, it looks unlikely.