Delerium Celebrates 20th Anniversary of “Silence (feat. Sarah McLachlan)”

June 20, 2019 BY Nettwerk

For the last 20 years, Delerium’s dance classic “Silence (feat. Sarah McLachlan)” has inspired numerous remixes and reworks from renowned artists around the world.  Upon its release, the track reached #1 on Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, Top 25 at Adult Top 40 radio, Certified Gold in the US and UK and Certified Platinum in Australia and Belgium.  With over 600 million combined streams and downloads, the song has been remixed over 25 times to date.  In fact, MixMag’s readers named Tiësto’s “In Search of Sunrise” remix the #12 “Greatest Dance Track Of All Time.” 

In celebration of the 20th anniversary, here is a collection of remixes to check out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1I9nRhbLkX9OBILJw3fqP4?si=N4ET7Yz8Q1GJ9LEzXEZt0A

“Twenty years ago, I was offered the opportunity to co-write and record a dance song with Bill and Rhys of Delerium …I’d never done anything like that before, but it sounded like a challenge and fun. We spent 2 days in the studio organizing the music and writing melodies and lyrics and came up with the song “Silence” – it’s been amazing to watch its evolution over the years through remixes by artists such as Tiësto and Fade. I am so happy to honor this milestone and a new remix by Youngr for such an enduring song” – Sarah McLachlan

“The first time I met Sarah she was working on her first album and I was next door working on an FLA album and we would run into each other in the hallway and get acquainted. Who could have guessed that some 10 years later we would collaborate on a song that would change my life forever and still does to this day” – Bill Leeb (Delerium)

“I remember when Paul Oakenfold played it back in the day, I think it was on vinyl. He put it on, finished the track, took off the needle, put it back to the beginning and played it again at Creamfields. It was amazing! A lot of people still expect me to remix their track like ‘Silence’. They want it to sound exactly the same” – Tiësto

“When Sarah McLachlan wrote “Silence” with Delerium, it wasn’t a trance track. But that’s why the song is exciting, it came from a different world” – Armin Van Buuren

“Silence has been one of my favorite tunes for a long, long time. I used to do a cover of it in my old band, 10 years ago! Then about 3 years ago I did a bootleg of it and played it out at all my Youngr shows which always went down a treat. A great moment of nostalgia for me and the crowd. I’m incredibly honored to have been asked to do an official remix for it, and actually being sent the original vocal stems was incredible. Such an incredible voice” – Youngr

Delerium was founded by Bill Leeb as a side project to influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly.  Leeb would enlist longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber to record several albums, including Karma, which housed the hit single.  As a member of Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy and Delerium, Leeb has gone on to sell over 4 million units worldwide.