Sass Jordan, the powerhouse Canadian rock singer and bass guitarist whose soulful voice made her one of the most distinctive performers to emerge from the country’s rock scene in the late 1980s, has died. She was 63.
Jordan died October 2, 2026, surrounded by her family, according to a statement posted to her social media accounts. Her family remembered her as “an inimitable force of nature” and “an irreplaceable being of light and joy.” A cause of death has not been disclosed.
Born Sarah Jordan in Birmingham, England, on December 23, 1962, she moved with her family to Montreal when she was three. She learned guitar as a teenager and began performing in local bands, eventually becoming the singer and bass guitarist for the Pinups. Her work in Montreal also led to session-vocalist and songwriting opportunities before she launched her solo career.
Jordan’s recording career took off with Tell Somebody, her 1988 debut for Atlantic Records. The title track became a Canadian hit, and her combination of hard rock, blues and soul quickly established her as one of the country’s most promising new rock singers. In 1989, she won the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year.
Her biggest success came with Racine, released by MCA in 1992. The album produced the hits “Make You a Believer,” “I Want to Believe,” “You Don’t Have to Remind Me” and “Goin’ Back Again,” with “Make You a Believer” reaching number 11 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Billboard named Jordan its Top Female Rock Artist of 1992.
Jordan also found herself in some impressive company during that period. She toured with Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Van Halen, and recorded “Trust in Me,” a duet with Joe Cocker for The Bodyguard soundtrack.
One of the young musicians who passed through her band during that era was Taylor Hawkins. The future Foo Fighters drummer was just 22 when he joined Jordan’s touring group, and he later credited her with teaching him the realities of life on the road.
“Sass taught me how to be in a rock and roll band and gave me my first rock and roll check,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins played on Jordan’s 1994 album Rats, which she later identified as her favorite of her records. The album pushed her sound further toward hard rock and included “High Road Easy,” another major Canadian hit. More than two decades later, Jordan joined Foo Fighters onstage in Toronto in 2015 to perform the Faces’ “Stay With Me.”
Jordan remained a prominent figure in Canadian music as her recording career continued. She served as a judge on Canadian Idol throughout the television series’ six-season run beginning in 2003, bringing the same directness and musical authority to aspiring singers that she had brought to her own career.
She also continued recording, increasingly exploring the blues influences that had always been part of her sound. Her later releases included Rebel Moon Blues in 2020 and Bitches Blues in 2022, the latter reaching number 15 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart. In 2023, she revisited her 1990s rock years with Live in New York Ninety-Four, a concert recording from the Rats tour featuring Hawkins on drums.
Jordan continued performing into 2026. In September, her team announced that she was stepping away from her remaining shows because of a serious medical condition and would be focusing on her health and recovery.
She is survived by her husband, musician Derek Sharp; daughter Stella Jordan-Sharp; stepdaughter Brianne Sharp; and brother Daniel Jordan.
