McLachlan released two albums in 2006: Mirrorball: The Complete Concert, which captured the entirety of the last date on her 1998 tour, and Wintersong, a collection of traditional and modern Christmas covers (plus one new song, the title cut). While most of its material was drawn from Afterglow, it also included a version of the 1989 McLachlan track 'Vox' and a previously unreleased collaboration with DMC and Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. She released Bloom, her second remix collection, several months later.

In June of that year, she performed on the Philadelphia stage of Live 8, the multi-city anniversary celebration of Live Aid and G8 summit protest coordinated by Live Aid founder Bob Geldof. Both releases eventually went multi-platinum, and McLachlan continued to tour through 2005. In 2003, after a short hiatus from the business, she put out the successful Afterglow, followed by another concert release titled Afterglow Live. Released in 1999, the multi-platinum Mirrorball chronicled McLachlan's performances on that tour and served as her first live release. She also organized the Lilith Fair tour, a package tour focusing on emerging women singer/songwriters. In 1997, McLachlan began work on her fourth album, the enormously successful Surfacing, which debuted at number two on the pop albums chart. Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff, a collection of non-LP tracks and remixes, was issued in Canada in 1996. The Freedom Sessions, consisting mainly of alternate versions of tracks from Fumbling, arrived in 1995 that same year also saw the release of 'I Will Remember You,' which McLachlan wrote as the theme for Brothers McMullen. 'Good Enough' also found a home in that format, reaching number 16. 'Possession,' an atmospheric single that mixed electronica influences with lyrics inspired by a stalker, broke the Top 100 and received considerable airplay, especially on modern rock radio, where it peaked at number 14.

charts at number 50 by the end of 1994, it reached platinum status after spending 62 weeks on the chart. After six months in a Montreal studio with collaborator/producer Pierre Marchand, she released Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, her strongest and most personal effort to date, in late 1993. Inspired by her experiences, she retreated to a secluded house outside of Montreal to write material for her next album. In September 1992, following a 14-month promotional tour, McLachlan traveled to Cambodia and Thailand to work on World Vision, a Canadian-sponsored documentary on poverty and child prostitution. In 1991, she followed up with Solace, an impressive collection that showed a great leap in songcraft and began to build a strong cult following in the U.S. The album eventually reached gold status in Canada and was reissued worldwide in 1989. On the strength of her debut, 1988's Touch, the budding songwriter was signed to Arista for international distribution. She initially turned it down in favor of continued studies however, she reconsidered and accepted the offer in late 1987, relocating to Vancouver soon after. Following a year of art training at the Nova Scotia School of Design, McLachlan (who had also been fronting a new wave band named October Game) was approached by Nettwerk Records and offered a solo deal. McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she began taking lessons for voice, classical piano, and guitar as a child.

She also founded Lilith Fair, a concert tour that helped usher other female songwriters into the mainstream during the late '90s, while maintaining her own presence on the charts. The following two decades saw her growing both as a musician and songwriter, continually redefining herself and emerging as a major voice in the growing adult alternative pop format. Since her debut in 1988, Sarah McLachlan's atmospheric folk-pop has gained a devoted following not only in her native Canada, where she established star status with her first album, but also in the U.S.

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