Sarah McLeod

Aussie rock icon Sarah McLeod entered the world in Adelaide, Australia. Her religious private school background had steered her toward a stockbroker career, which meant music did not enter her life until late adolescence. A trip to Bali with friends supplied her first onstage experience, after which a handful of guitar lessons ignited a lifelong commitment. The initial band she assembled soon took shape as Hell's Kitchen. Several lineup shifts followed before the group evolved into Superjesus, eventually ranking among Australia's foremost rock acts. During her decade with Superjesus, McLeod collected three ARIA awards and emerged as one of the nation's most familiar figures. She launched her solo path in 2005 under Festival Mushroom Records. Early singles "Let's Get Together" and "Private School Kid" stirred global interest ahead of the September 2005 arrival of her debut album Beauty Was a Tiger. Although the project succeeded commercially, disputes over its promotion prompted her to issue subsequent tracks on her own. "All But Gone" and "He Doesn't Love You" reached radio soon afterward, with a remix of the latter igniting dance floors across Australia, London, and New York City and claiming the top position on ARIA's Club Charts. By early 2006 McLeod had begun solo acoustic performances that drew from her entire catalog. The enthusiastic response led her to document the new live format on a self-titled album released in October of that year.