<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> <P> "Angel" is a song by Canadian singer - songwriter Sarah McLachlan about the heroin overdose death of Jonathan Melvoin (1961 - 1996), the Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player . as McLachlan explained on VH1 Storytellers . The song first appeared on Surfacing, the Canadian singer's 1997 album . It is sometimes mistitled as "In the Arms of an Angel" or "Arms of the Angel". </P> <P> "Angel" was McLachlan's second consecutive top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at number twelve, and then jumping to the top ten the following week, before peaking at number four . It remained at the top ten for nineteen weeks, and for twenty - nine weeks in the top 100 . "Angel" was the eighteenth most successful song of 1999 . </P>

Who was in the arms of an angel written for