McLachlan finds a greater purpose in inspiring others through music of the heart

How does one successfully lure a big-time singer to perform in Hawaii? Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask the entertainer in the first place.

Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, a frequent flier to the Hawaiian islands, said she’s never been asked to come out to give a concert in the state in her 30-plus years of being in the music business, though she went to Maui for fun once and performed at a private show.

The Hawaii Theatre was the first one to inquire, inviting McLachlan to perform in a fundraiser for the Hawaii Theatre Center and its programs.

“I was asked to perform, and I said, ‘Hell, yeah!’” said McLachlan amiably, in a phone call from her home in Vancouver in late January. “The logistics are tricky, and it is expensive to fly in equipment. But yes, no promoter has asked before.”

McLachlan, who has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, will be in concert Saturday night at the benefit for the theater, performing on stage with just a keyboardist/guitarist and a cellist for accompaniment.

“It will be a mellow show with a three-piece,” she predicted. “I love the cello. It’s on every record. There will be different arrangements of what I guess you can call the hits or what’s popular. Give people what they seem to like.”

That means McLachlan will pull classic singles from her catalogue such as “Possession,” “Building a Mystery,” “Sweet Surrender,” and, of course, “Angel,” a somber, wistful song written about the heroin-related death of Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin.

“Angel,” released in 1998, has struck a chord with many people, and that particular song — which showcases the singer’s vocal range — is also a personal favorite of hers.

The ballad reminds McLachlan of her father, she said — and beyond that, many people of all persuasions respond to the song.

“I have quite an attachment to ‘Angel’ because so many people react to it so strongly,” she said. “It’s a beautiful validation of something that I created. It speaks to a greater purpose. It makes me think of my father when I sing ‘Angel,’ too. It makes me think of how wonderful he was. It’s not in a sad way.”

McLachlan is a supporter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the connection came up casually in relation to the song “Angel,” which the SPCA uses in its commercials.

“I lent it to the SPCA, and as result, there have been (an uptick of) $30 million in donations,” she said. “It’s changed the face of fundraising.”

It is an understatement to say the donation of the song has done far more good than bad.

“I’m so glad I did it,” she said.

McLachlan’s careerin music has been a bit circumstantial. Originally, she went to school at the Novia Scotia College of Art and Design in the ’80s before signing a solo contract two years into her studies with the independent Vancouver label Nettwerk.

She has since been rewarded for her ethereal voice and songwriting abilities with three Grammy awards in the U.S. and nine Juno awards in her native country. Receiving her first Grammy has been a highlight of her career, she said: It came in 1998 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for the song “Building a Mystery” on the album “Fumbling Toward Ecstasy.”

“I felt pretty damn cool the first time I won a Grammy Award — an American award by a Canadian artist!” said McLachlan.

She will be inducted this year into the Canadian Hall of Fame at the Juno Awards.

McLachlan broke through to most American and international audiences with her third and fourth albums, “Fumbling Toward Ecstasy” (1994) and “Surfacing” (1997). On the strength of those albums, she started the Lilith Fair project, a festival which went on tour during the summertime in the mid-’90s and showcased the talents of women across musical genres.

“The series was about celebrating women in music,” she said.

The venture McLachlan speaks of with the most passion, however, is the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, which offers free group and solo music lessons to at-risk and underprivileged children. She officially opened the first school in Vancouver in 2011; two more locations opened up in 2016 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The children “come out the other side as great human beings, with good voices,” she said. “It fills me with joy every day.”

On her life experiences so far, she said that “life is a gift. I love my life. Every day I wake up being thankful.”

McLachlan is an avid surfer, and pictures from her various adventures in tropical locales pop up on social media such as her official Facebook page, where she has 1,512,885 fans. She was in Honolulu for a visit last month and plans to return in March.

When she spoke to the Star-Advertiser, the singer was in her kitchen, and her mind was on home renovations, her family and community, as well as working on music for her next album.

“There’s a need to write,”said McLachlan. “It’s incredibly cathartic, and there is a lot of emotions and release. I never stop writing.

“It’s a slow process, with about three or four years between songs. I’ve had two kids in the last few years, though. A lot has happened.”

McLachlan, who is known for the emotional and mostly personal content in her ballads, said the next album will likely be released in 2018.

“I have the music written for the new album but not a lot of words,” said McLachlan, who though open, came off a touch shy in conversation. “Melody usually comes first, but words are the hardest. They are my Achilles’ heel.”