Former U.S. president Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of about 10,000 people in Vancouver's Stanley Park on Saturday at a benefit concert for Sarah McLachlan's music school.

The star-studded Voices in the Park concert — which also included performances by Jann Arden, Bryan Adams and Stevie Nicks — raised money for School of Music, which provides training and programs for at-risk youth.

"People who perform ... they might not all become professionals, but they're all enriched by it," Clinton told the crowd.

"I think it is very unlikely that I would have ever become president had I not been at school of music from the time I was nine until the time I was 17."

McLachlan says the concert raised enough money to support School of Music for a full year.