|
|
Natalie Jane Imbruglia (pronounced
im-brul-yah) (born February 4, 1975) is an Australian
singer-songwriter, model and actress.
In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as
Beth Willis in the popular Australian soap Neighbours
(also responsible for launching pop singer Kylie
Minogue). Two years after leaving the program, she
launched a highly successful singing career with the
international hit, "Torn". The subsequent
debut album Left of the Middle (1998) sold 6 million
copies worldwide. While following releases White Lilies
Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005) have
been unable to match the commercial success of her
debut, the latter became her first UK #1. Imbruglia is
married to Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns. To date
she has sold more than 8 million albums around the
world.
Early life: Born as second of the
four daughters to an Italian father and an Australian
mother, Imbruglia grew up on the Central Coast, north of
Sydney. Imbruglia studied ballet as a child, hoping to
make a career out of it. Later, she started auditioning
for Australian TV commercials and appeared in spots for
Coke and the popular Australian snack Twisties. By age
16, she left high school to start a career in acting.
Eventually, she obtained the chance to play a regular
role on the Australian soap opera, Neighbours at the age
of 16 1/2. Neighbours has also launched the careers of
many other successful Australian female artists such as
Kylie Minogue, Holly Valance, Delta Goodrem and Natalie
Bassingthwaite. However, by the end of her second year,
she left the show to move to London, immersing herself
in the city's club scene.
There, she decided to try her hand at singing, something
which she had never attempted before. Her effort paid
off and she was signed to BMG Publishing. She came up
with a demo of the song "Torn" which greatly
impressed RCA Records and got her a record contract.
Music: Natalie Imbruglia is one of the most
successful Australian-born female singers. She has
received one MTV Awards for Best New Artist in 1998, and
3 constitutive nominations of Grammy Awards in 1999. She
was ranked #11 on Rock on the Net's list of single
artists of the year in 1998, and #76 in 2001.
Torn: Her first internationally released single,
"Torn", was an Ednaswap cover. Instantly the
single became one of the biggest hits of the 90s,
reaching number-two in the UK Singles Chart and
number-one on airplay around the world. The single went
on to sell over a million copies in the United Kingdom
alone.
It was also released as a radio single in the US, but
not in buyable CD-format. The single quickly hit #1 on
the Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it stayed
for eleven weeks. At the time singles not released
commercially were unable to chart to the overall Hot 100
chart (combined sales and airplay) so "Torn"
made no appearance on it for a while. By the time the
policy was changed in late 1997 to allow airplay-only
songs, "Torn" was already heading down the
charts, so its peak on the Hot 100 only ended up being
at #42. The single also topped the Top 40 Mainstream/CHR
Pop and Adult Top 40 charts.
In October 1997, it broke the all time airplay record in
the UK for being the most played (more than 2000 plays)
for six consecutive weeks. It was, finally No. 1 for 11
weeks in the UK radio chart, a record that is being tied
by only Simply Red's Fairground. It was No. 1 radio
single in the USA from March to July 1998. It was
knocked down to No. 2 by Alanis Morissette's
"Uninvited".
Rick Dees, in his Top 40 Chart show also declared Torn
as the 'number one radio single of 1990s' in their 2000
Millennium Countdown show, broadcasted from KIIS-FM on
News Years Eve.
Imbruglia made a surprise appearance alongside David
Armand midway through a performance of his supposed
'interpretative dance' routine to her hit song Torn at
Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball
(2006)
The royalty Imbruglia received from Torn single and
airplay is rumoured to be GBP 5 million in 1997 and
1998. Since then, she received no less than GBP 1
million annually due to the prolonged airplay of the
song worldwide.
Left of the Middle: Her debut album Left of the
Middle followed soon after. The second single released
in the UK, after "Torn" was "Big
Mistake." The song debuted at number-two.
"Wishing I Was There" followed and it was less
successful than her first two singles, reaching number
19. However, "Wishing I Was There" was a smash
hit on the UK radio, peaked at No. 2 in summer 1998, and
was a summer smash hit in the USA radio, peaked at No.
14 on the Top 40 Show.
The final single from Left of the Middle
was "Smoke", and the reception was much more
divided compared to the other singles. It was a hit in
the UK and made the top 5, while in Australia it just
missed the top 40. Eventually, the album became a
million-seller after charting well in many countries and
entering the Top 10 in the US and UK. In 1999, she
recorded a cover of the song Never Tear Us Apart by INXS
with Tom Jones which appeared on his album Reload.
Left of the Middle was certified platinum by RIAA within
8 week release (May 1998) and was certified 2X platinum
in November 1998.
White Lilies Island: Imbruglia’s next album,
White Lilies Island, arrived in 2001. Named after an
island, where her home is situated, the writing process
took almost three years to complete. The album's first
single, "That Day," was very different
stylistically from her previous singles, and it did not
reach the UK Top 10. The song did not do well in her
home country either. In the US, "Wrong
Impression" was released as the first single and it
enjoyed small success, charting in the Hot 100 Singles
chart and the Adult Contemporary chart.
The track was also released in the UK as
a second single, and it did slightly better than That
Day. "Beauty On The Fire", the final single,
experienced minimal success and barely entered charts
worldwide. In Australia it did not even make the top 50.
"Beauty On The Fire", however, was one of the
more critically-acclaimed tracks from White Lilies
Island and is considered by fans to be her most
underrated single. The album still managed to sell
around a million copies but failed to repeat the
widespread success of Left of the Middle. She got
married in 2003 to her long-time boyfriend, Daniel
Johns, the lead singer of Silverchair.
Counting Down the Days: Imbruglia's third album
was ready in November 2003. Imbruglia's record label
refused to release it due to it being too rock and not
radio-friendly. She was later given songs to record with
Scandinavian pop producers, which she refused to do.
Imbruglia and her record label parted ways at the
beginning of 2004. Four months later she signed with a
new label Brightside Recordings, which was formed by a
former Innocent Records boss Hugh Goldsmith.
Imbruglia started working on an album again. In April
2005, Imbruglia released her third studio album Counting
Down the Days in the UK with "Shiver" as its
first single. "Shiver" was a huge success, and
it became her longest running single in the UK since
"Torn." It topped UK airplay charts for
several weeks, reaching eighth place in the UK charts.
Still, the song’s acclaim and reception paid off and
Counting Down The Days became her first album to reach
the top spot on the album charts.
It was decided that 'Sanctuary' would be second single
from the album. The promo singles were sent to radio
stations. The decision was later changed to the title
track "Counting Down the Days", with radio
stations being asked to play the album version, because
the radio mix was not finished. The single was released
on July 25th but it did not have as much success in the
singles chart as "Shiver." As a results,
Natalie falls out with her then-manager. Though it
managed to reignite interest in its parent album though,
and also received a lot of airplay in the UK. Due to the
single, the album managed to re-enter the top 40 in the
official UK charts.
Imbruglia had a choice to either release 'Perfectly' as
her third single, or used GBP200,000 funding from BMG to
do a tour. She, rather release another single and its
video, did a small European tour in late October and
November to promote the album. Though the album never
entered UK Top 40 again, she has once again gained her
fan base; several concerts, especially that in London's
Empire Bush was sold out.
The album is the 100th best-selling album in 2005,
selling some 200,000 copies in the UK alone. Shiver has
sold 150,000 copies to date, the album shipped slightly
past the 250,000 copies but has received a Platinum
certification by BMI.
Fourth album: Imbruglia started working on her
4th album in late 2005 which is due to release in 2007.
As of May 2007, she is still working in the Olympic
Studio in London for the recording. The album is being
produced and mixed by Ben Hillier.
On her MySpace Natalie informed her fans that Gary
Clark, Daniel Johns, Dan Wilson and Crispin Hunt are
co-writers for the album.
On May 12th the song 'Glorious' leaked to the Internet.
The song was written by Imbruglia and Hunt. It was
confirmed by Natalie on her MySpace that the leaked song
is just a demo version. The version, which will most
likely be put on the album, is as Imbruglia stated
"something I am very proud of, and really fits with
the growth and progression I am aiming for with this 4th
album." It was confirmed by SonyBMG that the first
single hasn't been chosen yet.
Other recordings: In 1999 Natalie released the
single "Identify", considered by many fans to
be among her best recordings despite its relative
obscurity. Written by Billy Corgan of The Smashing
Pumpkins fame, the dark, brooding song — an artistic
departure for Natalie — appeared only on a CD single
and on the soundtrack for the movie Stigmata. Natalie
also wrote a song with Nick Seymour and David Biegel in
1999 called "Troubled By The Way We Came
Together" which was part of the soundtrack for the
movie "Go".
Film Careerm Johnny English: Imbruglia made her
big screen debut as an actress in the British comedy,
Johnny English. Starring alongside Rowan Atkinson, she
played a supporting role as Lorna Campbell. The movie
also featured another musical talent, bond, in a cameo
appearance. Internationally, the movie did well despite
negative reviews from critics. It topped box offices in
22 countries and grossed around $150m.
Elise: Since 2004, Imbruglia has been preparing
for the small, self-financed lead role of Elise
Silverton in the Australian independent film Elise. The
film is based on Georgia Blain's novel Closed for
Winter. Elise is directed by James Bogle. As confirmed
by its director James Bogle, shooting will start in
September/October 2007 in Adelaide, Australia.
TV, Neighbours: Imbruglia made her first regular
TV appearance in popular Australian soap Neighbours at
the age 16 in 1991. She played the role of Beth Willis
on the show.
L'Oréal: Imbruglia became a worldwide
spokesperson for L'Oréal after the release of White
Lilies Island. Today, she is still a model for many
cosmetic products by L'Oréal, particularly mascaras and
skincare products. She also appeared in several TV
commercials for L'Oréal.
Celebrity Deathmatch: Imbruglia was featured in
the 6th episode of 2nd season of Celebrity Deathmatch,
in which Mel Gibson and Paul Hogan fought. She didn't
take part in a fight. She died after Paul Hogan
accidentally threw boomerang at her, which caused her
head to fall off.
Personal causes: Imbruglia has campaigned to end
poverty and to bring attention to the disease known as
fistula, defined as an abnormal connection or passageway
between organs or vessels that normally do not connect.
She appeared in a sketch at the Secret Policeman's Ball
for Amnesty International on October 31, 2006. She has
also spoken publically of suffering from clinical
depression to raise awareness about the disorder.
Looks & Fashion: Imbruglia was named 6th most
naturally beautiful woman of all time in 2004. Audrey
Hepburn topped the poll in which only experts like
fashion editors, model agents and make-up artists could
vote. She was ranked 90th on VH1 100 Sexiest Artists.
She has been seen fashioning tattoos of Sanskrit/Hindi
inscription "Shreya" on her neck, Chinese word
for courage on her left foot and Sanskrit Aum on her
lower back. Imbruglia stated that she has never had any
plastic surgery but added "I wouldn't rule it out
because I don't know how I'll feel in the future." |
Snoron Celebrities and Models Wallpapers 
