February 28, 2008

Publication title: Canadian Press, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Toronto
Writer: Unknown

Sarah McLachlan Brings Baby With Her To Charity Gig In Toronto

TORONTO – For Vancouver-based recording star Sarah McLachlan, life on the road these days involves just as much play time in the playpen as on stage.

“I have my eight-month-old,” the Grammy-winning chanteuse said pointing to a playpen in her green room at the Air Canada Centre, where she was to perform Thursday evening at the One Night Live concert in support of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

“My 5 1/2-year-old’s in school and does not like being taken out of school. This is not a good environment for her – she’d just be yelling at me all day, ‘I’m bored!”‘

McLachlan has two children – India Ann Sushil Sood born in 2002, and Taja Summer Sood, born last June.

Taja accompanied her superstar mom on the plane ride from Vancouver to Toronto and, despite a 3 1/2-hour delay on the tarmac, was an angel, said McLachlan.

“She was fantastic,” the singer-songwriter said in the interview before the concert.

“She had three naps on the plane and just slept and laughed and slept. You know, you bring an infant into business class and everybody, you can just see them all going, ‘Ugh,’ and I said, ‘She’s really good, it’ll be OK!”‘

McLachlan was to hit the stage with her good friend Josh Groban, Bryan Adams, Jann Arden and RyanDan at the concert, which has raised $12 million for Sunnybrook hospital’s women and babies program.

McLachlan said it’s a cause that she closely identifies with after going through 21 hours of “hard back labour” with her first child and having a caesarean section with her second at B.C Women’s Hospital and Health Centre.

“I understand the need to have a really good facility, in particular for high-risk babies and just to give mothers and babies every opportunity to get the best foot forward, and so I think this is a really good unit that they’re building,” said the multi-platinum artist, who is married to drummer Ashwin Sood.

Groban, too, feels deeply for the cause.

“I wanted to be here because the women and babies program is a cause that is very close to my heart and that is supporting the development of healthy children around the world,” Groban said at an afternoon news conference announcing the private donation of $8 million from a Toronto couple for the construction of two new floors for the Sunnybrook program.

“My foundation (the Josh Groban Foundation), based out of Los Angeles, does much of the same thing and … I believe that for children to grow up healthy with a good education it’s essential for them to have the best possible start in life,” said the L.A. popera star, who was discovered by renowned Canadian music producer David Foster.

Aubrey and Marla Dan, who used Sunnybrook hospital for the birth of their premature girl 15 years ago, donated the money for the new facilities, which will include a new birthing unit and neonatal intensive care unit and is expected to be completed by 2010.

Aubrey Dan, a theatre producer, heads Dancap Productions in Toronto.

McLachlan, who has done countless concerts and events for various charities, doesn’t plan on having any more children. “I’m done,” she laughed.

“I’m 40 now and I know emotionally and physically just what I’m capable of and what I’m capable of giving – and knowing the expectations, knowing what’s needed from me, this is what I can manage and do a really good job at. Who knows, maybe I’ll adopt another kid in 10 years, maybe I’ll have some second wind in my late 40s or early 50s, but right now I’m pretty damn tired.”

With a part-time nanny and a scaled-back career, McLachlan is now focusing on her family, charity projects and a greatest hits album. The project will have some new songs, she said, which keeps her writing every day – sometimes with little Taja by her side.

“She, unlike my first (child), likes it when I play piano,” she said with a smile.

“And I have a little baby piano beside mine and I sit Taja there and you have to hold her because she’s still only eight months old but she just plays and plays and plays and she loves it.”