Sass Jordan, the singer, songwriter and longtime "Canadian Idol" judge, died on Oct. 2 at the age of 65. Her family confirmed her death, saying she "died peacefully" and was "surrounded by those who loved her most." They described her as "an inimitable force of nature" and "an irreplaceable being of light and joy."
Born Sarah Jordan on Dec. 23, 1960, in Birmingham, England, she was the daughter of French literature professor Albert Jordan and former English ballerina Jean Lanceman. She began singing with friends as a child and, by age 16, was already fronting bands in downtown Montreal clubs. She later became singer and bassist for the local favorites The Pinups.
Jordan's recording career began in 1986, when she served as co-lead vocalist on "Come On (Baby Tonight)," a track from Bündock's album "Mauve." She soon became an in-demand session singer in Montreal, lending her voice most notably to The Box's breakthrough track "L'Affaire Dumoutier (Say To Me…)" and appearing in the band's video for "Closer Together." As a songwriter, she penned "Rain," which Michael Breen carried onto the Canadian charts in 1987.
In 1989, Jordan won the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year following the release of her debut album, "Tell Somebody." After relocating to Los Angeles in January 1990, she released "Racine" in March 1992 — the album that would define her career, selling an estimated 450,000 copies worldwide and 100,000 in Canada. The record produced the singles "Make You a Believer," "I Want to Believe," "You Don't Have to Remind Me" and "Goin' Back Again," with "Who Do You Think You Are" following in 1993. "Make You a Believer" reached No. 11 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and Billboard named Jordan its top female rock artist of 1992.
Jordan joined "Canadian Idol" as a judge in 2003 — the only woman on the panel — and remained for all six seasons of the show. She continued performing and releasing music for two decades afterward. "If you love music and you've been around as long as I have, you pretty much do what you got to do," she once said. "But I love music. I am a huge, gigantic fan."
She is survived by her husband, Derek Sharp; daughter Stella Jordan-Sharp (Daniel Yepes); stepdaughter Brianne Sharp; and brother Daniel Jordan (Isabelle Courville).
Photo: Damien D. from Toronto, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
