Sarah Brightman Biography

Opera singer and musician Sarah Brightman was born in 1960 in Berkhamsted, England. She began dancing when she was only three, and by the age of thirteen she had made her London theatrical debut. Her first performance was in I and Albert, and after that she was featured as a dancer on Pan’s People. But her big breakthrough came in 1981, when she was cast in the role of Jemima in the West End production of Cats. From there she spent the next nine years in a variety of musical theater roles, including Christine Daaé (Phantom of the Opera.)

In the late 1980’s, Sarah Brightman also began recording solo albums and did so consistently into the new millennium: The Trees They Grow So High (1988), The Songs That Got Away (1989), As I Came of Age (1990), Dive (1993), Fly (1995), Eden (1998), Luna (200), Encore (2001), Harem (2003) Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Vol. 2 ( 2005), Diva: The Singles Collection (2006.) Brightman’s signature song, however, is often considered to be “Time to Say Goodbye,” her duet with Andrea Bocelli which appeared on his album Timeless in 1997. It was an extraordinary international hit, and went on to sell more than twelve million copies, expanding Sarah Brightman’s fan base significantly.

Today, Brightman is famous for a vocal range that spans more than three octaves, and for her performances in a variety of languages, including English, Latin, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish. She is perhaps the world’s best-selling soprano, with sales exceeding thirty million, and over 180 gold and platinum sales in thirty-eight countries. Her most recent album, Dreamchaser, arrived in 2013, but Brightman is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on her next and twelfth studio album, expected for release in late 2017 or early 2018.