Bio

Sarah Macombee moved to NZ from the UK with her family in 2007. Very happy to call West Auckland her home she’s wasted no time in connecting with talented musicians and producers here in NZ to record the follow up to her last album Sense Offender.

Sarah’s early songwriting bore fruit at the age of 12 when she wrote a song for her school choir. At the age of 13, she wrote a musical. She left home when she was 15 to experiment with various avant garde bands.

Songwriting went alongside the job of bringing up 4 children and it's this combination that Sarah credits with her quest to be unflinchingly honest. “The opportunity to turn the challenges I faced as a young mother into creative nuggets of self-expression really made that a happy time. Having children and experiencing all the love and joy that brings, allowed me to exhume the painful parts of my life growing up. The children sang my songs – which SO wasn't appropriate at times, but it means they have come to know me through them and that, I think, is quite lovely.”

At the same time as the songs were flowing, Sarah discovered that she had Multiple Sclerosis. “The fingers on my right hand were numb and I had tingling and odd sensations in my body. My GP sent me to a neurologist who started the testing process." At this point, MS was mentioned. Five weeks later she got married and life continued. “I went into denial for a year and carried on as before but things were going downhill. I was sick for the next 10 years and made a decision to manage it myself through research about my condition. I was angry with conventional medicine and trod the alternative path. It's not been easy. But this experience, of course has influenced me as an artist. It has been the greatest gift and the greatest curse. As a writer, material comes in cycles. As a woman with MS, the relapses and remissions echo these cycles. At times, the MS has dictated those cycles but conversely, my songs have sustained me through those downward spirals and helped carry me back.”

Band Members:
Sarah Macombee

Links

• Artist Website
• Facebook Page