Born in Birmingham, England, on December 23, 1962, and raised in Montreal, Sarah "Sass" Jordan began performing in local bands as a teenager, later singing and playing bass with The Pinups. Her solo debut, Tell Somebody (1988), earned her the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1989. Racine (1992) established her as a Canadian rock presence, with singles including “Make You a Believer” and “You Don’t Have to Remind Me.” On Rats (1994), she took a harder-edged approach; the album produced “Sun’s Gonna Rise,” her first entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and featured Taylor Hawkins on drums. She followed with Present (1997) and Hot Gossip (2000), then played Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway production of Love, Janis (2001) and judged all six seasons of Canadian Idol (2003–08). Her later albums included Get What You Give (2006) and From Dusk ’til Dawn (2009). After Racine Revisited (2017), she joined the A Bowie Celebration tour in 2019 and moved further into blues with Rebel Moon Blues (2020), which reached number 5 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart, and Bitches Blues (2022), which peaked at number 15. A 1994 concert recording featuring Hawkins, Live in New York Ninety-Four, followed in 2023. After performing at Peterborough Musicfest in July 2026, Sass Jordan canceled her remaining shows that September, citing a serious medical condition. Her family announced that she died on October 2, 2026, at age 63.
