Sabine Blanchard Biography

Born in French Algiers, Sabine immigrated to the United States from France at the age of 5, spending her formative years in Santa Barbara, Calfornia. At the age of 20, she left Santa Barbara, travelling and living throughout the U.S. She returned to Santa Barbara some 20 years later where she currently resides and plans to remain until she turns to dust.

Sabine attributes her inherent interest and love of music to the influences of her Mother, a classically trained pianist and her late sister, Christine, who was a gifted folk musician. Her family tree includes a number of classical musicians and artists. As a teenager she was drawn to the sounds of the Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Cream, Jimmy Hendrix, and the Eagles. Her musical influences grew over the years to include the country sounds of Alison Krauss, Vince Gill and Trisha Yearwood. This eventually led to a focus on singer/songwriter material performed by a variety of favorite musicians she admires, like Eliza Gilkyson, Kris Delmhorst, Michael Lillie, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Edwards, Patty Griffin, Annie Gallup, Cheryl Wheeler, Jacob Dylan, and John Smith to name just a few.

Sabine's personal interest in becoming a musician began in 1995 when she auditioned for and was offered the lead singer spot in "The BluesCasters,' a local blues band founded by late guitar player, Andy Finch. After playing local favorite clubs and events for some years, she left the band and took up the guitar in the interest of pursuing more musical autonomy. Over the next several years, while focusing on her full time career in the stockbrokerage industry and a part time counseling internship with the Santa Barbara Community Counseling and Education Center, she took guitar lessons with veteran musician, Larae Johnson (one of her favorite guitars is named "Larae".)

In 2005, Sabine met Kate Wallace, a gifted, singer songwriter who recorded, toured and wrote professionally for her record label out of Nashville and co-founder with Doug Clegg of the "Trinity Backstage Concert Series" in Santa Barbara. Under the guidance of Kate, she was exposed to some of the best music and musicians she had ever heard. Since 2006, Sabine has performed at "Northstar", "Jensen's Songwriter Showcase", the "Trinity Backstage Concert" Series as a "Pilgrim Chair" performer and "House Concerts" - her favorite performing venue. Many of these musicians may be seen at the monthly Trinity Backstage Concert Venue (www.trinitybackstage.com) in Santa Barbara.
Sabine began painting (oil) in 2010. Her oil painting page is under construction and may be seen on this website in the very near future. Please refer to the Home Page for a list of paintings as of April 2010.