UK Sarah Fans

[mjc1987]

I need to know that they're a few others out there that love her as much as I do and can relate to how annoyed you get when people ALWAYS say "Sarah Mc who?!"

My mates continually rip me for my slight obsession over her music, which never goes a day without being played!

[TheSquirrel]

Crazylitstudent/Ben/Silly Dreamer is a Brit, so am I. When I first contacted Arista in 1995 about McLachlan fan clubs or finding out about possible tour dates, the first reply was "who?" They then went and found someone who had heard of her. Very encouraging. Given the amount of coverage she gets and the amount of publicity from her company it isn't surprising she isn't a huge name. It is annoying though when someone says "who?" Then when I went to the concerts I couldn't believe all the ages, looks, shapes, sizes, income brackets, and classes that were into Sarah McLachlan. There were some very young but also some very old too. All seemed to be equally enthusiastic.

I can remember quite a few tv adverts for Afterglow, but don't think there have been many for the latest album. I generally don't watch the adverts so I'm not completely sure about the comparison. All I know is six years ago I turned on the tv a number of times to see an advert for Afterglow.

Ozfumbler gets part of the puzzle right when he talks about her being an album rather than single artist, but this country may as well be a desert island when it comes to finding people who are into her music. Those fans at the concerts, even the younger ones seemed very knowledgeable about her. You wouldn't think there were any fans at all in the country. Then they all came out, then they all disappeared. It is quite strange. All those fans are out there.

[Jessel]

^LOL! Same here. Aside from not knowing who she is, a lot people here (including CD shop personnel and even celebrities) can't even pronounce her last name properly. In my entire life, I'm lucky to have met 2 people (not counting my sister of course) who are familiar with her music: the musician girlfriend of one of my college buddies and an ex co-worker.

[Crazylitstudent]

I have met a few people who know her music in the UK, mostly students with an intrest in female singer-songwriters. Plus her 2004 concert in Bristol was packed with people from all walks of life!So people are aware of Sarah here but I would say shes more of a clut artist than a mainstream one. I also think the reason for LOI not doing well in the UK was down to zero promotion (no advertising, no TV/Radio apperances, bad placement in stores etc). I think if Sony UK had put in more time and effort the album could of at least made the top 20!

[Empirejim]

You make a very good point there.

[Miguel]

Quincy is also from the UK

I remember these 3 people from the earlier days of Sarahboards: Brothersun, martino and jo_mcb

[biancadantas]

It's the same here in Brazil too. Most people don't know her and when I talk about her sometimes i need to say her name 'slightly' wrong to be understood. Only good stores have any of her cds. I think the biggest problem it's that her albums aren't even released here - only Surfacing, Mirroball and Afterglow live (CD and DVD) - I really don't get what goes on Sony managers' minds and I think it's really sad some good artists aren't promoted over here....

[Danyy]

Here in Portugal it's exactly the same I get the same "Sarah who?" responses and people only recognize her if I mention the song Angel (one radio station here plays it from time to time). Her albums get released though, but only in some stores and they definitely don't "fly" from the shelves like Rhianna's or Miley's Promotion to her work just doesn't happen over here.

[Sweetfear]

Hey i study in the Uk but i am from Greece.
I have to admit many ppl are familiar with Silence or even Angel but most of em dont really know who's singing these two. In the Uk i dont really think i ve met more than 4-5 ppl who know her but the same thing happens with Imogen Heap for example. She is barely known in the Uk but ppl know her in general. I think it comes down to the fact Sarah's music is not really the type you would normally here in a club or smtg.

Now that you mention it though heres a funny story.
Like 3 years ago we had some massive fires going around - burning almost half of greeces green .
A really big music network like Mtv here in Greece then started playing " World on Fire " for 2 weeks straight every day... haha

[Quincy]

I spent over 12 years as a sales manager travelling around the Northern half of the UK and I was surprised at the number of people who were fans of SMcL, OK the vast majority were female but several guys were very much into her music. She is known over here, and it is recorded here that the vast majority of her concerts in 1994 were sell outs ( know Manchester & Birmingham were).
LOI hasn't been mentioned at all on Radio 2 (To my knowledge) which is where her listening base would be here in the UK. It's no surprise then that LOI has done badly here. Sony/Arista haven't done there job at all in promoting her.