Rachael Sage (born Karen Rachael Weitzman in 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. She is the founder of indie label MPress Records. Sage has released fourteen solo studio albums. Sage was named one of the Top 100 Independent Artists of the Past 15 Years by ''Performing Songwriter'' magazine. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' describes Sage as "alternately channeling her inner

Fanny Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...

and Jewish Norah Jones".

Early life

Sage was born Karen Rachael Weitzman in 1971 in

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populat ...

, to shoe designer

Stuart Weitzman Stuart A. Weitzman (born 1941) is an American shoe designer, entrepreneur, philatelist, and founder of the shoe company Stuart Weitzman. Weitzman has designed footwear for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Career In the late 1950s, Weitzman's father, ...

and his wife, Jane. Sage studied drama and ballet before switching to music. A self-taught pianist, influenced by her parents'

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

and

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

records, as well as Broadway cast albums, she created demos on a four-track recording system she received as a bat mitzvah present. During junior high school, Sage gained admission to the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

. Sage attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where she hosted a nighttime

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

show as "Full Moon Rachael". She studied theater with professors such as playwright Anna Deavere Smith, and graduated in 1993 with a degree in drama. For one year, she was in the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

MFA program. Her performance in their New York talent search won her a place on the ''Village Stage'' of the 1999 Lilith Fair.

Music

Sage's career includes the writing of jingles and theme music for film and television; her first notable jingle customer was

Crystal Light Crystal Light is a line of powdered and artificially sweetened beverage mixes produced by Kraft Heinz. It was first sold in 1982 to a test market and released to the public in April 1984. General Foods, a now defunct company, were the original se ...

. She began using the name "Rachael Sage" in 1995, and in 1996 she started her own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, MPress Records, inspired by

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influe ...

founding Righteous Babe Records six years earlier. On April 23, 1996, Sage released her debut studio album, ''Morbid Romantic'', on MPress. She toured Europe four times and released four more albums. For her 2004 song "Sacrifice" from the album ''Ballads & Burlesque'', Sage won Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song at the 4th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2005. "Brave Mistake" from the album ''Delancey Street'' was nominated for Best Story Song at the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2011. In the same year, Sage won OutStanding Producer for her song "Hope's Outpost" at the 7th Annual OutMusic Awards. Sage wrote an editorial about homeless youth in New York City for

The Morton Report Andrew David Morton (born 1953) is an English journalist and writer who has published biographies of royal figures such as Diana, Princess of Wales, and celebrity subjects including Tom Cruise, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Monica Lewinsky; seve ...

. In her editorial, she mentioned a collaboration of artists, unveiling an album, ''New Arrivals Vol. 4: Artists Against Youth Homelessness'', with proceeds going to the

National Network for Youth National Network for Youth (NN4Y) was founded in 1974 as the National Network of Runaway and Youth Services (NNRYS). Back then, NNRYS was the membership association of community-based organizations that had emerged in the 1970s to focus on the ne ...

CJCS attends Roots of Resilience Gala 160908-D-SW162-0162

Sage appears on ''Both Sides Now: the Very Best of Judy Collins'', performing a duet with

Collins Collins may refer to: People Surname Given name * Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat * Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration * Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...

on the

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

song, " Helpless". On May 20, 2016, Sage released her 12th studio album, ''Choreographic'', on MPress Records, featuring some of the songs that she wrote to accompany dance competition routines for Maddie Ziegler. On March 6, 2020, Sage released her 14th studio album, ''Character''. Described as an "inspirational tribute to survivorship", the album was written as Sage was recovering from

endometrial cancer Endometrial cancer is a cancer that arises from the endometrium (the lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first sign is most o ...

. She expressed the hope that "these songs honor just how resilient the human spirit can be, and remind us that sometimes it's ok to not be ok." The album reflects on themes such as compassion, gratitude, authenticity, optimism, mindfulness, forgiveness, vulnerability, and resilience, as well as issues surrounding co-dependence. Sage regularly tours in North America and Europe and has shared stages with

A Great Big World A Great Big World is an American musical duo from New York made up of singer/songwriters Ian Axel and Chad King and signed to Epic Records. The group is best known for their single "This Is the New Year", which was performed by the cast in an epis ...

Semi Precious Weapons Semi Precious Weapons was an American rock band from New York City, New York, United States, consisting of Justin Tranter on vocals, Stevy Pyne on guitar, Cole Whittle on bass and Dan Crean on drums. Pyne replaced former guitarist, Aaron Lee Tasja ...

, Sarah McLachlan, Judy Collins, Marc Cohn, the Animals, Jamie Cullum, and Ani DiFranco. Sage's sound has been described as theatrical. Producer

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...

said of working with Sage that he was reminded of collaborating with

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and that "She has a very unusual way of treating a pop song. I admire her editorial and musical ability when it comes to crafting a tune."

Visual arts

Sage's paintings and collages have been shown in small galleries in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

, and she has also contributed original artwork to her own CD package designs.

Personal life

Sage's sister Elizabeth is a film critic and children's book author in New York. Sage told ''

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

'' magazine in 2020 that she came out to her parents as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

in the mid-1990s. She said her songs portray her "full-range of life-experience, including having loved both men and women". Sage has been celebrated by the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

, winning OutMusic Awards multiple times, hosted by the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts. In 2016, she teamed with cellist

Dave Eggar Dave Eggar is an American cellist, pianist and composer. Early life Eggar was a musical prodigy as a child, beginning to play the cello and piano at age three and performing as a singer and actor on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera at ...

to produce a benefit concert to help victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, a hate crime against gay people. In 2018, Sage was treated for uterine cancer; she was in remission two years later when she organized an online benefit concert to fight cancer, with appearances by Lisa Loeb,

Paula Cole Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. After gaining attention for her performances as a vocalist on Peter Gabriel's 1993–1994 Secret World Tour, she released her first album, ''Harbinger (Paula Cole album), Harbing ...

and more. Sage stayed in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Discography

Studio albums

*''Morbid Romantic'' (1996) *''Smashing the Serene'' (1998) *''Painting of a Painting'' (2001) *''Illusion's Carnival'' (2002) *''Public Record'' (2003) *''Ballads & Burlesque'' (2004) *''The Blistering Sun'' (2006) *''Chandelier'' (2008) *''Delancey Street'' (2010) *''Haunted by You'' (2012) *''Blue Roses'' (2014) *''Choreographic'' (2016) *''Myopia'' (2018) *''Character'' (2020)

Acoustic albums

*''Choreographic (Acoustic)'' (2016) *''PseudoMyopia'' (2019)

EPs

*''Haunted by You – Acoustic EP'' (2012) *''New Destination'' (2014) *''The Tide'' (2017) *''Character (Acoustic)'' (2020)

Collaborations

*''New Arrivals Vol. 1: Artists For Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief'' (2006) *''New Arrivals Vol. 2: Artists Against Hunger & Poverty'' (2007) *''New Arrivals Vol. 3: Artists For Eating Disorders Awareness'' (2008) *''New Arrivals Vol. 4: Artists Against Youth Homelessness'' (2011) *''New Arrivals Vol. 5: Artists For Hurricane Sandy Relief'' (2013) *''Both Sides Now – The Very Best Of Judy Collins'' (2014) *''Poetica'' (2021)

Awards and nominations

Sage has received numerous awards and nominations, which includes winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2001, three wins at The Great American Song Contest, and five wins at the Independent Music Awards.

MPress Records

Rachael Sage started MPress Records in 1996 to release her own music. She is the label's president. Notable artists include: * Rachael Sage *

A Fragile Tomorrow A Fragile Tomorrow is an American Alternative rock, alternative/powerpop band from Charleston, South Carolina, United States, formerly from Montgomery (town), New York, Montgomery, New York. The group formed in 2003 and included brothers Sean Kel ...

* K's Choice *

Melissa Ferrick Melissa Ferrick (born September 21, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. Her song "Drive" (2000) is considered a lesbian anthem. She is a music professor at Northeastern University and at Berklee College of Music. Early life Ferrick was ra ...

* Seth Glier

References

External links

Official website

MPress Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Rachael People from Port Chester, New York People from New Haven, Connecticut Living people 21st-century American keyboardists American singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers American folk singers American women singer-songwriters Jewish American musicians LGBT rights activists from the United States Fast Folk artists Independent Music Awards winners Celesta players American rock keyboardists American LGBT writers American LGBT musicians Jewish folk singers 20th-century American keyboardists 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers 1971 births 21st-century American Jews Stanford University alumni