Sarah Slean

Slean recorded her first EP Universe (1997) at the age of nineteen. It was followed by Blue Parade in 1998.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010719224341/http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2001/07/1701.cfm "CD Reviews: The Beta Band, Default, Toploader and many more"]}}. Chart Attack, July 17, 2001 Night Bugs was her first major label album, co-produced by Slean and Hawksley Workman, and released by WEA in Canada and Atlantic Records in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/nightBugs.aspx |title=Night Bugs |work=Official Community of Sarah Slean |access-date=23 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602000212/http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/nightBugs.aspx |archive-date=2 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }} It was heavily inspired by cabaret music. Slean composed all the string and horn arrangements for these albums - by hand in traditional notation.

File:Sarah Slean - 2005 (cropped).jpg

On 28 September 2004, Slean released her fourth album, Day One. Here Slean's piano takes a less important spot for the first time in her career. The focus is more on beats, rhythms and guitar, which is evident in the album's first single, "Lucky Me".{{cite web |url=http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/dayOne.aspx |title=Day One |work=Official Community of Sarah Slean |access-date=23 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602053911/http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/dayOne.aspx |archive-date=2 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }} The up-tempo title track "Day One", and "Mary", a song about Slean's grandmother, were released as the second and third singles. Slean was first introduced to VS orchestral libraries and MIDI sequencing on this album, and composed all the orchestral accompaniments.

File:Sarah Slean - Myer Horowitz - close-up.jpg

In October 2006, Slean released a mostly-live album, Orphan Music, which consists of songs recorded live at Toronto's Harbourfront Theatre and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Other new tracks featuring Slean and the piano were recorded at DNA Recording Facility in Toronto and Kensaltown Studios in the UK.{{cite web |url=http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/orphanMusic.aspx |title=Orphan Music |work=Official Community of Sarah Slean |access-date=23 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602053917/http://www.sarahslean.com/music/discography/cd/orphanMusic.aspx |archive-date=2 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }}

On 13 December 2007, Slean's website underwent a massive overhaul in preparation for her newest studio album, entitled The Baroness. Visitors to the new site were invited to sign up for Slean's new mailing list, and in doing so would be able to download a demo version of her newest single, "Get Home". People who pre-ordered the new album from the new website's store also received a download to the non-album track "Parasol". The Baroness was released on 11 March 2008. The iTunes version of the album included two additional non-album tracks, "The Rose" and "The Lonely Side of the Moon." In September 2008, Slean announced her intention to release the non-album tracks from The Baroness as an EP. Both Parasol and Modern Man have been confirmed by Slean in Question and Answer sessions in her official website. On 13 November 2008, the official Sarahslean.com newsletter announced the title for the EP to be The Baroness Redecorates. A full track list was also provided.{{cite web |url=http://www.sarahslean.com/news/default.aspx#fb221b8d-d7b8-4094-8e8d-291002eac162:1101 |title=Sarah Releases a New EP just in Time for the Holidays! |work=The Official Community of Sarah Slean |access-date=13 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918034601/http://www.sarahslean.com/news/default.aspx#fb221b8d-d7b8-4094-8e8d-291002eac162:1101 |archive-date=18 September 2008 |df=dmy-all }}

Slean released her fifth studio album, a double album entitled Land & Sea, on 27 September 2011.{{cite web |title=Land & Sea – Pre-Order |url=http://sarahslean.com/music/solo/26-land-sea-pre-order |publisher=SarahSlean.com |access-date=17 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927042051/http://www.sarahslean.com/music/solo/26-land-sea-pre-order |archive-date=27 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }} As previously with Beauty Lives, a 100 special handcrafted editions were sold of the album. Land & Sea is also Slean's first record to be released on vinyl. Sarah composed the orchestral arrangements for three songs and her mentor Jonathan Goldsmith arranged three others .

File:Sarah Slean at BSOMF.jpg]]

Slean's studio album Metaphysics was released in April 2017. A pre-order campaign for the album was held on PledgeMusic.{{cite web |url=http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sarahslean |title=New Album "Metaphysics" |work=PledgeMusic |access-date=10 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127093518/http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sarahslean |archive-date=27 November 2016 |url-status=live }}

In 2006, she contributed two covers ("Us and Them" and "Comfortably Numb") to Pink Floyd Redux, a modern 12-track tribute to Pink Floyd.{{cite web |url=http://canada.mymusic.com/product.asp?curr=1&myptr=canada&muzenbr=100276016 |title=CD Details |work=canada.mymusic.com |access-date=23 May 2008}}

Another notable cover in Slean's repertoire is her down-tempo rendition of Our Lady Peace's guitar-driven song "Julia". Our Lady Peace has performed Slean's "piano" version of their song in their own concerts. Vocalist Raine Maida explained the origins of the piano version: "We’re gonna do a song from our first record now, that was given to us on a cassette tape, a very different version, from a girl named Sarah Slean from Toronto..."{{cite web |url=http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Sarah-Slean-Biography/F3D5383DF190C64C48256E5C002AF1D6 |title=Sarah Slean Biography |work=Sing365.com |access-date=23 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531014041/http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Sarah-Slean-Biography/F3D5383DF190C64C48256E5C002AF1D6 |archive-date=31 May 2008 |url-status=live }}

Slean was also featured on the Fox TV network as the pianist in Sunrise, the fictional town where bodies started piling up in Murder in Small Town X, a short-lived reality TV series.{{Cite web |title=Murder In Small Town X (TV Mini Series 2001) - Cast Credits |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0288379/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_ttfc_3 |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=IMDB}}

In October 2008, Slean performed at the first annual Canwest Cabaret Festival in Toronto. Slean performed sets of her own music accompanied by bassist Joe Phillips and drummer Mark Mariash, and also contributed to multi-artist "songbook" performances of the songs of Leonard Cohen and Kurt Weill.

In March 2009, Slean took part in the Juno Songwriter's Circle in Vancouver, alongside fellow songwriters Jim Cuddy, Jacob Hoggard (of Hedley), Doc Walker, Buffy Saint-Marie, Vancouver upstart Ndidi Onukwulu, and Hawksley Workman, who hosted. She played two songs from The Baroness, "Notes from the Underground" and "Looking for Someone".

In 2009 she took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had her talk about performing at the Rivoli while attending the University of Toronto.

On 18 April 2011, Slean chose a song called "New Pair of Eyes" from Land, to be included on the compilation album Songs of Love for Japan. She described the song as an "ode to the shocking wonder of existence". Songs of Love for Japan was available for only 3 days, with all proceeds going toward relief efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on 11 March 2011.

Slean was born in Pickering, Ontario. She attended Dunbarton High School in Pickering. After initially studying music at York University, she completed a degree in music and philosophy at the University of Toronto.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

In 2008, Slean and fellow singer-songwriter Royal Wood got engaged while in Paris;{{cite web |title=Sarah Slean Gets Festive |url=http://www.chartattack.com/reviews/64447/sarah-slean-gets-festive |access-date=27 September 2011 |publisher=ChartAttack.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108072651/http://www.chartattack.com/reviews/64447/sarah-slean-gets-festive |archive-date=8 November 2009 |df=dmy-all }} the pair married in 2009,{{cite web |title=Sarah Slean's Sea Change |url=http://www.macleans.ca/2011/09/08/sarahs-sea-change |access-date=27 September 2011 |publisher=MacLeans.ca }} and would divorce in 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/royal-wood-i-wanted-to-find-my-fun-again|title=Royal Wood: "I wanted to find my fun again"|date=2016-01-05|language=en-US|access-date=2016-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014015022/http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/royal-wood-i-wanted-to-find-my-fun-again|archive-date=14 October 2017|url-status=live}} In January 2014, Slean said she and Wood had "parted ways as friends".{{cite web |url=http://sarahslean.com/blog/and-the-days-grew-longer/ |date=9 January 2014 |first=Sarah |last=Slean |title=And the days grew longer… |access-date=3 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202133006/http://sarahslean.com/blog/and-the-days-grew-longer/ |archive-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

On November 7, 2020, Slean announced on her social media accounts that she was pregnant with a daughter.{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/sarahslean/status/1325205026348826625 |title=Here's my big news, everyone!}} Slean gave birth to a baby girl namedinstagram Abigail on March 11, 2021.{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/sarahslean/status/1370163124536479752 |title=Welcome to the world, little one!!!}}

• "Sweet Ones" (2002)
• "Weight" (2002)
• "Duncan" (2003)
• "Lucky Me" (2004)
• "Day One"(2005)
• "Mary" (2005)
• "Somebody's Arms" (2005)
• "Get Home" (2008)
• "Set It Free" (2011)
• "Sarah" (2017)

• "Weight" (1998)
• "High" (2000)
• "Sweet Ones" (2002)
• "Lucky Me" (2004)
• "Day One"(2005)
• "Mary" (2005)
• "Get Home" (2008)
• "The Rose" (2010)
• "Set It Free" (2011)
• "The Devil & the Dove" (2012)
• "Society Song" (2012)
• "Sarah" (2017)
• "Every Rhythm Is The Beat" (2017)

• Ravens (2004)

Slean's first collection of poetry, containing 21 poems in 69 pages, including original artwork.

• The Baroness (2008)

A companion poetry book to the eponymous album, containing 46 pages.

• Black Widow (2005)

In late 2004, she filmed Black Widow with Canadian director David Mortin, a film noir musical based on the Evelyn Dick murder case. It premiered in September 2005 on the film festival circuit and on CBC Television in January 2006.

• Tales of the Baroness (2007)

In 2006, Slean teamed up once again with video director Nelson Chan ("Mary", "Day One") to create a three-part short film titled Tales of the Baroness. The first segment aired on 11 May 2007 on Bravo!.

• Last Flowers (2009)

In 2009, Slean was in another short film, Last Flowers (Parts [http://www.vimeo.com/5441167 1] and {{Vimeo|id=5581655|title=2}}), written and directed by CJ Wallis and produced by Elli Weisbaum.

Writing obituaries for a local newspaper to keep the wolf from the door, coupled with the complete avoidance of his own mother's death, universally rejected novelist Harvey Harris (Joseph May) is feeling more distanced than ever from the world and those who surround him. An attempt to ease his guilt leads Harvey to sneaking into the very funerals he writes about, where a chance meeting of a strong-willed woman named Mona Miller (Sarah Slean) will force Harvey to confront his greatest fears about loss and rejection and how to find a way to connect through the most severe forms of disconnection.

• The Translator (2010)

Slean landed the part of the Woman in French Film in Sonya Di Rienzo's short film, The Translator.[http://www.littlefilms.ca/pdfs/thetranslator.pdf The Translator Postcard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112220334/http://www.littlefilms.ca/pdfs/thetranslator.pdf |date=12 January 2013 }} from [http://www.littlefilms.ca/ Little Films About Big Moments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203231019/http://www.littlefilms.ca/ |date=3 February 2012 }}. Retrieved 10 July 2012. (See {{YouTube|id=mFSSyiUcozs|title=excerpt}})

• 2003 Juno Awards: New Artist of the Year – Nomination
• 2005 Juno Awards: Adult Alternative Album of the Year (Day One) – Nomination
• 2005 Gemini Awards: Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series (2004 Governor General's Performing Arts Award) – Nomination{{cite web |url=http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=slean&winonly=0&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 |title=Search results |publisher=Canada's Awards Database |access-date=10 July 2012}}
• 2006 Gemini Awards: Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series (Black Widow) – Nomination
• 2009 Juno Awards: Adult Alternative Album of the Year (The Baroness) – Nomination
• 2011 Leo Awards: Best Music Video ("The Rose": CJ Wallis – Producer){{cite web |url=http://www.leoawards.com/2012/2011_winners_by_name.html |title=2011 Winners by Name |publisher=Leo Awards |access-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623094456/http://www.leoawards.com/2012/2011_winners_by_name.html |archive-date=23 June 2012 |url-status=live }}
• 2021 Juno Awards: Best Classical Album (Vocal/Choral) -- Nomination

Two record engineers have been nominated in the Recording Engineer of the Year category at the Junos for their work with Slean: Peter Prilesnik in 2005 for Day One, and Jeff Wolpert in 2012 for Land & Sea.

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.sarahslean.com}}
• {{IMDb name|id=1023112}}

{{Sarah Slean}}

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Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:Canadian women singer-songwriters

Category:Canadian pop pianists

Category:Musicians from the Regional Municipality of Durham

Category:People from Pickering, Ontario

Category:Canadian women pop singers

Category:21st-century Canadian women singers

Category:20th-century Canadian women singers

Category:21st-century Canadian pianists

Category:Canadian Screen Award winning musicians

Category:20th-century Canadian women pianists

Category:21st-century Canadian women pianists

Category:University of Toronto alumni

Category:20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters

Category:21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters