Canadian rock star Sass Jordan, known for hits such as “Make You a Believer” and “Tell Somebody” and who served as a judge on all six seasons of “Canadian Idol,” has died. He was 65 years old.
Jordan died Friday surrounded by his family, according to an announcement posted on Instagram on Saturday. No cause of death was given, but it was reported that he canceled a series of shows in Ontario, Canada, in September “due to a serious medical condition.”
“He remains in our hearts as a unique force of nature,” his family wrote in a statement accompanying a photo of Jordan cuddling a cat. “An irreplaceable being of light and joy!”
Jordan made her solo debut with the 1988 album “Tell Somebody,” which led to her winning the Juno Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy, for most promising female vocalist the following year. He moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and released his follow-up album “Racine” in 1992.
It went on to become one of Jordan’s greatest solo albums, with tracks such as “Racine”, “Make You a Believer”, “I Want to Believe”, “You Don’t Have to Remind Me” and “Goin’ Back Again”. The same year, she recorded a duet with Joe Cocker called “Trust in Me” for the 1992 film “The Bodyguard”.
“I always think of music as medicine and healing for myself and anyone who wants to participate,” Jordan said in a 2023 interview with CBC about audiences still responding to his previous hits when he performed. “[S]It’s an extremely uplifting thing. … It’s amazing and unbelievable to see. “It’s amazing to see people react to something that, as you said, is actually 20 years old.”
Born on December 23, 1960, in Birmingham, England, Sarah “Sass” Jordan moved from France to Montreal with her family when she was 3 years old, after her father, a professor of French literature, got a job at Concordia University, according to the statement shared by journalist Eric Alper after his death. Seeing David Bowie in concert as a young teenager inspired Jordan to dream of a career in music. He started singing and playing guitar with friends in Westmount Park, and by the age of 16 he was performing with bands in nightclubs in downtown Montreal.
“I specialize in rebellion,” Jordan told The Times in 1992, explaining why he ran away from home when he was 14.
Throughout his career, Jordan has toured alongside artists such as Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Van Halen. The 1994 touring band included Taylor Hawkins, who would later become the drummer for Foo Fighters. Jordan’s most recent release is the live album from this tour titled “Live in New York Ninety-Four”. Hawkins died in 2022 at the age of 50.
Jordan served as one of the judges on the reality competition “Canadian Idol” for six seasons. The show ran from 2003 to 2008 and mirrored the format of shows like “Pop Idol” and “American Idol.”
“For more than 40 years, she has given Canadian rock one of its most recognizable voices, making room for women in a genre long dominated by men, and opening doors for young musicians coming through her band,” Alper said in a statement. “Sass Jordan left behind a catalog that shaped Canadian rock throughout the late ’80s and ’90s, a blues renaissance where his sound grew richer with each record, and a generation of artists, from Idol hopefuls to the future Foo Fighter, who learned from him what it means to give everything to a song.”
Jordan is survived by her husband Derek Sharp, daughter Stella Jordan-Sharp, stepdaughter Brianne Sharp, and brother Daniel Jordan.