Rachael Sage (born Karen Rachael Weitzman in 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. She is the founder of

indie label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

MPress Records. Sage has released fifteen 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 comedian, Illustrated Songs, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. Sh ...

and Jewish

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

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 populati ...

, to shoe designer

Stuart Weitzman Stuart A. Weitzman (born July 1941) is an American shoe designer, 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, Seymour ...

and author Jane Weitzman. 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 subgenre 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, ...

and

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

records, as well as

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

cast albums, she created demos on a four-track recording system she received as a

bat mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they a ...

present. During junior high school, Sage gained admission to the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

. Sage attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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 Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in ''The West Wing'' (2000–06), hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus i ...

, 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 located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

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

Lilith Fair Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride (CEO), Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during ...

Music

Sage's career includes the writing of

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s and theme music for film and television; her first notable jingle customer was

Crystal Light Crystal Light is an American brand of powdered and artificially sweetened beverage mixes produced by Kraft Heinz. It was introduced in 1982 to a test market and released to the public in April 1984. General Foods, a now defunct company, were the ...

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

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, 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 influenc ...

founding

Righteous Babe Records Righteous Babe Records is an American independent record label that was created by folk singer Ani DiFranco in 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. History Righteous Babe Records was originally ...

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), as a membership association of community-based organizations that aimed to focus on the needs of youth in runaway and homeless si ...

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 on the

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

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 Madison Nicole Ziegler (; born September 30, 2002) is an American actress and dancer. She appeared in Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime's reality show ''Dance Moms'' from 2011 (at age 8) until 2016, and starred in a series of music videos by Si ...

. 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 epithelium, lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells (biology), cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first s ...

. 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 epi ...

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 T ...

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...

, Judy Collins,

Marc Cohn Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song " Walking in Memphis", from his 1991 album '' Marc Cohn'', which was a To ...

the Animals The Animals, currently billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals (featuring original frontman Eric Burdon) and also as Animals & Friends (featuring original drummer John Steel (drummer), John Steel), are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Ne ...

Jamie Cullum Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He h ...

, and Ani DiFranco. Sage's sound has been described as theatrical. Producer

Phil Ramone Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

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. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

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 City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

, 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, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

'' magazine in 2020 that she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to her parents as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

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 LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, 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 A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate h ...

to help victims of the

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States before Orlando Police officers fatally shot him after a three-hour standoff. I ...

, a hate crime against gay people. In 2018, Sage was treated for

uterine cancer Uterine cancer, also known as womb cancer, includes two types of cancer that develop from the tissues of the uterus. Endometrial cancer forms from the lining of the uterus, and uterine sarcoma forms from the muscles or support tissue of the ute ...

; she was in remission two years later when she organized an online benefit concert to fight cancer, with appearances by

Lisa Loeb Lisa Anne Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites'', the first number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

Paula Cole Paula Dorothy Cole (born April 5, 1968) is an American singer and 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'', which suffe ...

and more. Sage stayed in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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) *''The Other Side'' (2023)

Acoustic albums

*''Choreographic (Acoustic)'' (2016) *''PseudoMyopia'' (2019) *''Another Side (reimagined)'' (2024)

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 six 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 *

K's Choice K's Choice is a Belgian rock band from Antwerp, formed in 1994. The band's core members are brothers Sam (lead vocals, guitar) and Gert Bettens (guitar, keyboard, vocals). Since 2014, the Bettenses have been joined by Bart van Lierde (bass), To ...

* Melissa Ferrick * Seth Glier

References

External links

Official website

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