Sarah Blasko

Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow (born 23 September 1976), known professionally as Sarah Blasko, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. From April 2002, Blasko developed her solo career after fronting Sydney-based band Acquiesce between the mid-1990s and 2001. She had performed under her then married name, Sarah Semmens, and, after leaving Acquiesce, as Sorija in a briefly existing duo of that name. As a solo artist, Blasko has released seven studio albums: The Overture & the Underscore (11 October 2004); What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have (21 October 2006), which peaked at No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart; As Day Follows Night (10 July 2009), which reached No. 5; I Awake (26 October 2012), which made No. 9, Eternal Return (6 November 2015); Depth of Field (23 February 2018); and I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain (1 November 2024). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2007, Blasko won Best Pop Release for her second album. Her third album won the Best Female Artist in 2009 and her fourth album was nominated for the same category in 2013. In October 2010, As Day Follows Night was listed at No. 19 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums; the authors noted that it "turned on emotional subtlety and instrumental clarity. It sounded like little else in 2009, or most any other year". Sarah Blasko is the stage name of Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow, who was born on 23 September 1976 and grew up in Sydney. Her family had just returned from French-speaking Réunion, where both of her parents were Christian missionaries. They had attended Christian Life Centre with Frank Houston as their pastor. Blasko's mother, Ellie (died c. 2000 of bowel cancer), was a nurse and her father, Nikolai David Blaskow, was a teacher at Gippsland Grammar School. Her father is from a Bulgarian-German background. Blasko has an older sister, Kate. Upon their return to Australia, her parents frequently changed denominations including Anglican, Baptist, Uniting, and Charismatic; and settled at a Pentecostal church in Sydney, which later became the Hillsong Church. Blasko started singing at church. She later recalled "[music] was something I kind of fell into. My sister was always the singer of the family, I wanted to be a vet. I grew up going to church which was often a very musical place". While Blasko was attending high school, she formed a jazz-blues group with Kate. By the age of 15, Blasko was concerned that she "wouldn't make it" and this was partially influenced by the church's apocalyptic message of the "End of the World" and "Christ's Return". She eventually left the church in her final year of school, declaring that its emphasis on material success "just didn't fit" with her, or her interpretation of the scriptures. However, she has since stated that she still believes in God, despite her perception that such an admission is unpopular in Australia. By the age of 18, she had written her first songs. She had no formal singing lessons until age 19 and she also started playing guitar. At university, Blasko completed a degree in English literature and film. In the mid-1990s, Blasko joined a Sydney band, Acquiesce, on lead vocals, with founding members Paul Camilleri on guitar, Steve Foxe on violin, Dave Hemmings on drums, Ted Langtree on bass guitar and her sister, Kate Halcrow, on harmony vocals. By 1998, tracks were co-written by Blasko and Camilleri, the group recorded an extended play, Aa for Acquiesce, which was released in September 1999. Also that year, the group won a New South Wales campus band competition and received greater local attention. Dave Cullen (of Brotherhood Lush) replaced Langtree on bass guitar and they released a single, "Breathing In", in November 2000. Both EP and single were produced by Hugh Wilson (King Luan, Vertigo, Science for Girls, Brooklyn Social, Huboi, The Blue Phoenix). Acquiesce disbanded by January 2001 and Blasko, as Sorija, teamed up with acoustic guitarist Nick Schneider in a short-lived project, also named Sorija. Blasko remembered that "[things] started getting weird with the last band I was in when we ended up going to counselling together! This was about the time that I decided to leave and started working on some solo stuff". As an acoustic pop-electronic duo, they played gigs in Sydney until April 2002. Songs performed by the duo and written by Blasko include "Be Tonight" and "New Religion"; co-written with Schneider: "Will You Ever Know" and "Your Way"; co-written with Wilson: "Sweet Surrender" and "Follow the Sun". By April 2002, Blasko was performing as a solo artist and, in late September, she released her debut six-track EP Prelusive, all the tracks were previously performed by Sorija. For the EP Blasko provided vocals, guitar and keyboards, and co-produced it with Schneider (also on guitar, keyboards, and flute) and Wilson (also on guitar and keyboards). Other session musicians were Jeff de Arujo on drums and Willem New on bass guitar. Two tracks were solely written by Blasko, two co-written with Schneider and two with Wilson. She launched the EP at The Hopetoun Hotel, and by October the lead track, "Your Way", had been added to national radio station Triple J's play list. She produced the music video for "Your Way", which appeared on Channel V and rage in November. Blasko had released and promoted her material independently, with financial assistance from her then-manager, Craig New. She explained "[I was] starting to get my head around computer home recording ... I decided to put out my own EP independently. Most of it was recorded at home. I was fortunate enough to have JJJ pick up on one of the tracks almost immediately". Blasko signed to Brisbane-based label, Dew Process, which repackaged and re-released Prelusive in March 2003. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 she received her first nomination: as Best Female Artist for her work on Prelusive and "Your Way". On 11 October 2004, Blasko released her debut studio album, The Overture & the Underscore, which had been recorded in Hollywood at the studio of engineer Wally Gagel during the first half of the year. She co-produced the album with Gagel and fellow songwriter Robert F. Cranny. Gagel engineered and mixed the album, with assistance from Bruce MacFarlane. Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms for Peace) played drums and percussion on all songs, while Cranny played various instruments on the album. Blasko recalled: "I stayed in a backpackers hostel right near Hollywood Boulevard and worked on the album six days a week for two months ... I really wanted there to be something pretty classic about it. I was honestly surprised by what a 'complete' record it sounded to me when I stepped away from it". The album peaked in the Top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was reviewed by Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald, who felt "Blasko works in the territory where Ed Harcourt and Fiona Apple shine, taking some of the new acoustic framework (think Turin Brakes) and some of the folk-meets-electronica stuff that came out in the post-Portishead years and applies them to straightforward pop songs". Allmusic's Tammy La Gorce finds Blasko is "an entrancing artist who sings exceptionally well but is bent on making you guess what brews within her heart rather than pouring it out to you". Triple J declared it the Feature Album of the Week because it is "a beautiful encapsulation of her life and influences and a showcase for her truly amazing voice". Three music videos were produced for album tracks: "Don't U Eva", "Always Worth It" and "Perfect Now". Her debut EP and album were focused around acoustic guitar and utilised both live and programmed drums. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2005, Blasko received four nominations: Album of the Year, Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist – Album, and Best Pop Release. By 2008 The Overture & the Underscore received platinum accreditation by ARIA for shipment of over 70,000 copies. Blasko spent April 2006 recording her second album, What the Sea Wants,