Sari Schorr

Sari Schorr was never made to stand still. From finding her voice in the rock clubs of New York City to breaking through with her 2016 solo debut, A Force of Nature, and her acclaimed collaboration with legendary guitarist Robin Trower, Schorr’s road-scuffed boots have barely touched the ground.

Now, with Running Wild, Schorr channels that restless momentum into her most personal and defiant record yet. The album will be released on 9 October in Europe and 30 October in the United States via Provogue Records / Artone Label Group.

“At some point, you realise no one is coming to give you permission to become yourself. You simply have to do it,” she says. “I trust my instincts more now and worry less about whether a song is behaving itself. These songs are about self-discovery, defiance, resilience and transformation. I hope they leave people feeling freer and bold enough to believe that something better is possible.”

Schorr is a fascinating one-off. One moment, she’s the raven-haired warrior princess whose kerosene roar burns down the house; the next, a heart-stopping balladeer who bleeds into every lyric and can silence even the toughest crowd. Offstage, she is a passionate social activist with a mischievous wit – an irrepressible optimist, an incurable dreamer and a devoted animal lover. All those sides of her, and more, are evident on Running Wild.

“I think the album title captures something essential in me,” she says. “I’m drawn to that place where vulnerability and strength exist side by side. Making Running Wild, I discovered that true freedom comes from letting go of judgement, trusting my instincts and following the music without fear.”

That fearlessness was there from the beginning. Born in New York City to a fashion model mother and an Air Force pilot father whose life inspired “Man on Fire”, Schorr was a natural-born singer. “My mother says I was singing before I could walk,” she reflects. “When I started studying with a vocal teacher from Juilliard, she was the first person to tell me, ‘Do you realise you have a five-octave range? I can’t teach you that!’”

In a parallel universe, Schorr could have been an opera star. But drawn to the emotional truth of singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Mamie Smith, she learnt she was put on the planet to sing from the heart, not display technical brilliance for its own sake. “When I first started out, I was overpowering every band I sang in,” she admits. “It took time to realise that range and power mean nothing unless you use them to make people feel the music and believe the story.”

Leaving the classical world behind, Schorr headed to the South Bronx, where the lessons came quickly. “It was a dangerous neighbourhood,” she recalls. “Hearing gunshots outside the rehearsal studio wasn’t unusual, but that was where the musicians in my band lived. They taught me so much about crossing musical boundaries and bringing different genres together. I didn’t realise then how important that would become when I began writing my own songs. It’s why I love weaving soul, blues and jazz into the heart of classic rock.”

But a supernova talent like this couldn’t stay underground forever, and Schorr soon caught the ear of headline artists like Popa Chubby and Joe Louis Walker. She credits Walker with encouraging her to step into the spotlight. “Joe told me, ‘You’ve got to spread your wings, girl!’”