NEW YORK, NY (Arista Records) - It's coming on Christmas ... and 3-time Grammy and 8-time Juno Award-winning multi-platinum Arista recording artist
Sarah McLachlan receives a timely and welcome gift as WINTERSONG, her first holiday season album is certified gold by the RIAA for U.S. sales in excess of 500,000 units. WINTERSONG (issued October 17th) is Sarah's 11th career chart album in Billboard - where it is the No 1 best-seller on the Top Holiday Albums chart marks her 15th release to be certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. WINTERSONG also enters the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart this week at No 7 selling 116,025 units, the first holiday album to crack the Top 10 since 2004, and the second highest ranking for a holiday album since 2001. In addition, WINTERSONG sold more copies this week than any other holiday album sold in any week last year.
Recorded at home in a relaxed Canadian setting, WINTERSONG combines traditional and standard Christmas tunes with several contemporary classics that are close to Sarah's heart, including her original new title tune composition, "WINTERSONG." The album opens with her version of John Lennon's timeless "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," featuring her Music Outreach Children's Choir of Vancouver (emulating the original 1971 version by John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band, recorded with the Harlem Community Choir).
Other WINTERSONG highlights include Sarah's version of Joni Mitchell's 1971 "River" ("It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees ... "), and homage to Gordon Lightfoot's 1975 "Song For A Winter's Night." From the American standard songbook, Sarah chose "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Have Your�self A Merry Little Christmas," and the 1965 Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon's "Christmas Time Is Here." The program is rounded out with the traditional "What Child Is This (Greensleeves)," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," the classically flavored "In the Bleak Mid Winter," and a medley of "The First Noel/ Mary Mary."
Last week, Sarah made a special appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she sang "Ordinary Miracle," her closing track on the Charlotte's Web motion picture soundtrack album by Danny Elfman, arriving in stores December 5th on Sony Classical. (The Paramount Picture starring Dakota Fanning opens December 20th.) On November 29th (the day after Oprah), Sarah was on hand for the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, broadcast nationally.
A busy schedule of New York TV appearances was then set, including ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Friday, December 1st; ABC's Good Morning America Weekend (2nd); ABC's Live with Regis & Kelly (4th); wrapping up with the CBS Early Show and syndicated Martha Stewart Living (5th). Sarah will be the musical guest on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday night, December 15th.
Since joining Arista nearly two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan's original studio and live albums have been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA, starting with Touch (1988) and Solace (1991), both gold sellers. Her 1994 breakthrough, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (triple-platinum) was followed by the digitally enhanced multimedia version of The Freedom Sessions (1995, gold). Sarah's landmark fifth album, the 8x-platinum Surfacing (1997), contained two Grammy Award-winning tracks, as "Building a Mystery" won for Best Female Pop Vocal, and "Last Dance" was voted Best Pop Instrumental. 1999's triple-platinum Mirrorball, and its platinum long-form video counterpart, were both culled from that year's Lilith Fair tour, and spun off Sarah's third Grammy-winning performance, as "I Will Remember You" won for Best Female Pop Vocal. The double-platinum Afterglow followed in 2003, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album, while its opening track, "Fallen" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal. WINTERSONG was Sarah's first new studio recording since Afterglow.
