Sass Jordan, Canadian Rock Singer of "High Road Easy," Dies at 65

Sass Jordan, the raspy-voiced Canadian rock singer who spent four decades carving out space for women in a genre long dominated by men — and who spent six seasons telling it straight as a judge on Canadian Idol — has died. She was 65.

01The Announcement

Sass Jordan, the Canadian rock singer whose raspy voice carried hits like "High Road Easy," "Make You a Believer" and "Tell Somebody" — and who spent six seasons as a judge on Canadian Idol — has died. She was 65.

The family shared the news in a statement posted to her Instagram account, saying she "peacefully crossed over to the other side" on Oct. 2, 2026, "surrounded by her loving family." In the post, accompanied by a photo of Jordan holding a cat, the family wrote: "She remains in our hearts, an inimitable force of nature. An irreplaceable being of light and joy!"

The death was also confirmed by her publicist Eric Alper, whose statement was shared with USA TODAY. "Over four decades, she gave Canadian rock one of its most recognizable voices, carved out space for women in a genre long dominated by men, and opened doors for the young musicians who came through her band," Alper said in the statement shared with USA TODAY.

No cause of death was announced. In September, Jordan had cancelled her remaining tour dates for the year, citing an undisclosed serious medical condition, according to BraveWords. People and USA TODAY both covered the death, and tributes followed across the Canadian music world and beyond.

02A Note on Her Age

Born Sarah Jordan on Dec. 23, 1960, in Birmingham, England, she was 65 at her death — a figure confirmed by publicist Eric Alper's press release and by the family's own announcement. Some outlets, including People and Men's Journal, initially reported her age as 63. The arithmetic does not support that: a December 1960 birthdate makes 65 the correct age in October 2026, as reported by USA TODAY and The Music Universe. We have used the family-confirmed figure throughout.

She was the daughter of French literature professor Albert Jordan and former English ballerina Jean Lanceman, and the family moved from France to Montreal when she was 3, according to the family's biography shared with the press. Music filled the household — classical, at first — until hearing The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" on the radio struck like a revelation. Her first concert, David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour, settled what she would do with her life, as her publicist Eric Alper wrote.

As a young teen she sang and played guitar with friends in Westmount Park, and by 16 she was fronting bands in downtown Montreal clubs before becoming the singer and bassist for the local band The Pinups. She launched her recording career in 1986, sharing co-lead vocals on Bündock's "Come On (Baby Tonight)" and working as a session singer around Montreal.

03"Tell Somebody" and the Racine Years

Her solo debut, Tell Somebody, arrived in 1988 on Atlantic Records, and the title track rose to No. 11 in Canada. The following year she won the 1989 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist, and she was nominated for Best Female Vocalist again in 1990, 1993 and 1995, according to USA TODAY.

In 1990 she relocated to Los Angeles and recorded the album that defined her career: Racine, released in 1992 on MCA Records, sold 450,000 copies worldwide. It yielded "Make You a Believer" — which peaked at No. 11 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart — and "I Want To Believe," among other Canadian hits. Kevin Costner later recruited her for The Bodyguard soundtrack, where she duetted with Joe Cocker on "Trust in Me," per USA TODAY.

The road work was just as heavyweight as the records. She toured with The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith and Van Halen — with future Foo Fighters star Taylor Hawkins drumming in her touring band — and was named Billboard's Top Female Rock Artist of 1992.

The Hawkins connection became one of rock's favorite stories: in the early 1990s Jordan hired the young drummer for her touring band, giving him his first professional road work. According to her biography, Dave Grohl told a Toronto crowd in 2015, "If it weren't for Sass Jordan, Taylor Hawkins wouldn't be in Foo Fighters." The two later reunited on stage in Toronto in July 2015, when she joined Foo Fighters to sing the Faces classic "Stay With Me."

04"High Road Easy" and the Idol Years

Her 1994 album Rats pushed a harder edge, and it produced her highest-charting American song: "High Road Easy" reached No. 6 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, as reported by KJWL. The album also yielded the Top 10 Canadian singles "High Road Easy" and "Sun's Gonna Rise," according to Exclaim!

In 2003, a different kind of audience discovered her. Jordan joined the judging panel of Canadian Idol — the only woman among the judges — and stayed for all six seasons of the show's run, becoming, for a generation of television viewers, the honest and warm voice at the table. A live album from her 1994 tour, Live in New York Ninety-Four, was released in 2023.

She never stopped recording. Her later years brought a blues reinvention: Rebel Moon Blues (2020) debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart, followed by Bitches Blues in 2022, both made with her husband, musician Derek Sharp. She also played Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway production of Love, Janis, and toured with David Bowie's former bandmates in A Bowie Celebration.

For more on the artists who shaped Canadian rock and the singers still carrying it forward, see our Music and Culture sections.

05The Voice She Leaves Behind

What the obituaries keep circling back to is what her publicist said at the start: over four decades, she gave Canadian rock one of its most recognizable voices and carved out space for women in a genre long dominated by men. In 1992, at the height of Racine, Billboard named her the top female rock artist of the year — a formal recognition of what every club audience in Montreal had known since she was 16.

The tributes have framed her the way her family did: "an inimitable force of nature" and "an irreplaceable being of light and joy." For the young musicians who came through her band — most famously Taylor Hawkins — she was a door-opener, someone who handed the next generation its first real paycheck and its first real lessons about what it means to give a song everything.

She is survived by her husband, musician Derek Sharp, her daughter Stella Jordan-Sharp, her stepdaughter Brianne Sharp and her brother Daniel Jordan, according to Soap Central's family reporting. The family has not announced a cause of death, and no memorial plans have been made public as of this writing.