Sarah Slean

Biography

Sarah Slean was born and raised in Pickering Ontario, the youngest of three siblings. Sarah claims her interest in music began even before she was born, as while pregnant with Sarah her mother would often play piano. Apparently this is an effective training technique. Sarah's sound is distinctly original and heartfelt, not to mention completely self-arranged.

A master with the ivories, Sarah started plinking away at the piano at age three and writing her own songs at nine. In 1998, Sarah's debut EP Universe was released on an independent label. On some tracks she starts off with a murmur on the piano only to end up filling the room with a thunderous treasure. Afterwards, you wonder how she concealed the transition.

1999 saw Sarah release a second independent album, Blue Parade. She followed this with Night Bugs in 2002. It won critics' appraisal immediately, and firmly established her as one of Canada's most promising young songstresses. Sarah partnered with another Canadian musician on Nightbugs; it was produced by Hawkesly Workman. Nightbugs earned Sarah a 2005 Juno award nomination for "Best New Artist."

After the success of Night Bugs, Sarah moved herself into a cabin deep in the woods of Ontario where she painted, read, and wrote more music. It is this time alone she credits with her latest album Day One, which was released in September 2004. Day One is a different sound than the previous three albums, more upbeat in tempo and percussion heavy – more of a rock album than the others. The multi-talented Sarah also created the mixed media art which accompanies the album.

Sarah's songs have also appeared on the shows "Party of Five," "Felicity," "Dawson's Creek" & "Murder in Small Town X" (where she actually played a piano-bar performer). She has also seen her music appear on five Women & Songs compilations, on and had a song appear recently in the feature film Joy Ride.

In 2005, Sarah starred in CBC Television's "Black Widow," described as "a playfully macabre homage to film noir cinema of the 1940's." Sarah's performance earned her another honour, Gemini nomination for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program. The awards will be announced October 18, 2006.

Sources: Sarah's Official website, MapleMusic, BlackWidowFilm.com, littleslean.com

Relationship to Blue Rodeo

Sarah Slean's primary connection to Blue Rodeo is performing on stage together.

Sarah toured extensively with Blue Rodeo on their Palace of Gold tour.
Glenn has been doing double duty as Sarah's drummer during her sets on the POG tour.
Sarah shared the stage with Blue Rodeo for the 2003 TSO's Sonic Bloom concert. The concert was to help raise money for Toronto's Symphony Orchestra.
Sarah contributed vocals to the charity song "The Streets Where You Live," which features Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, and numerous other Canadian artists including Gord Downie, Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Harmer and Colin James.
Sarah and the Jim Cuddy Band both performed at the 2002 Family Farm Benefit.
Sarah was among the 'friends' to be invited to perform with Blue Rodeo during their 2000 Blue Rodeo and Friends concert.
Sarah played opening sets at Blue Rodeo's Stardust Picnics.

Quotes

"I don't quite know how that happened. I've always liked Blue Rodeo and they've been really supportive of me. They've always given me gigs like the Stardust Picnic Festival so they're good guys and they want to help out other local people." – Sarah Slean on how she started opening for Blue Rodeo

Last Updated

September 2006

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