Artist History It doesn't often happen that an unknown artist sweeps across the music world, captivating fans everywhere. Yet it happened in 1998 when Natalie Imbruglia, the extravagantly talented Australian singer/songwriter, set up shop in London to record her debut album, Left Of The Middle. Propelled by the international hit "Torn," Natalie emerged as a powerful new voice in pop music. Now, the patience of her admirers pays off with the release of her new RCA album, White Lilies Island. In its ten tracks, Natalie not only makes good on all the promise of her debut, but cements her standing as one of the most compelling songwriters today. Written or co-written entirely by Natalie, White Lilies Island presents a broad musical and emotional tableau. To pull it off, Natalie enlisted the aid of several A-list producers, including Gary Clark, Pat Leonard, Ian Stanley, Phil Thomally and Pascal Gabriel, all of whom helped shape Natalie's vision. "Making this record was like a slow-dripping tap," she recalls. "Sometimes it was grueling, because I can't do anything in music that isn't honest. It often took months to write a song I liked." Such perfectionism does have its reward, as is demonstrated in White Lilies Island, which explores the darker side of living in the moment. The album kicks off with "That Day," a propulsive Joycian rocker largely improvised in one take. "I wasn't feeling well the day I recorded that song," remembers Natalie. "Pat Leonard just wanted to me to sing what I was feeling, so I went in there and sang the song pretty much as is. I don't quite know how I managed to do that." The album finds climactic moments with songs like "Butterflies" and "Goodbye," the latter a wrenching snapshot of desperation. "‘Butterflies' is about that sinking, glass-half-empty feeling, where you know things aren't working out, but there's no turning back," she says. "It's a depressing take on it, but everyone's been there." Songs like "Wrong Impression" and the acoustic-flavored "Satellite" offer a sardonic challenge to typical love song conventions, while others, like "Beauty on the Fire," "Do You Love?" and "Hurricane," peer deep into inner turmoil, and are sung by Natalie with deceptive gentleness. "At the core of my songs lie the emotions we all experience," she says. "There are many ways of expressing them. The trick is finding how. A thousand people have written about being lonely; well, what's my take on it, and how can I make it unique?" That quest has exemplified Natalie Imbruglia throughout her artistic career, both as a musician and as an actress. She grew up in a small Australian beach town not far from Sydney. Along with her sisters, Natalie studied ballet as a child, hoping to make a career of it. Later, she switched gears, auditioning for Australian TV commercials and appearing in spots for Coke and the popular Australian snack Twisties. By age 16, she left her performing arts high school to act full-time. Six months later, she won a regular role on the top-rated Australian soap opera, Neighbours. As much visibility as she earned on TV, Natalie herself grew artistically restless, and at the end of her second year, she departed the show to move to London, immersing herself in the city's vibrant club scene. It wasn't long before she decided to try her hand at songwriting, something she'd always felt she could do successfully yet had never attempted. Eventually, those incipient efforts paid off, first with her signing with BMG Publishing, and soon after coming up with a demo of the song "Torn." So electrifying was her performance, Natalie was quickly courted and signed to a recording contract with RCA Records. Working with producers like Nigel Godrich (Radiohead), Natalie recorded her 1998 debut album Left of the Middle. The premiere single "Torn" began to spread exponentially across America and around the world. With a subsequent appearance on Saturday Night Live just before its release, the album became a Top 10 bestseller, launching Natalie's career into highest gear. That same year, Natalie won many honors including an MTV Music Video Award, an Australian Record Industry Award, an MTV Europe Video Music Award, and a Billboard Music Award, a pair of Brit Awards (Best International Female and Best International Newcomer), as well as Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best Pop Album, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Though the gap between albums was a bit longer than convention would dictate, Natalie used her time wisely, setting the stage for the musical evolution so evident on White Lilies Island. "The first album had a lot more anger,"notes Natalie. "The way I deal with things now is not to go so head-on. I have to be true to what's happening in my life at that moment. At the same time, I try to find connections with people on every level: spiritual, emotional, and musical." Those connections made, Natalie Imbruglia is set to return to the concert stage and reacquaint herself with an adoring worldwide audience. "As long as this album took to record, I did put my heart and soul into it," she notes. "I'm my own worst critic, so to get to a place where I'm proud of it, I think, means something. I'm glad I've had an opportunity to grow as an artist, and for people to have been so patient with me is quite wonderful." White Lilies Island truly marks the full flowering of a great contemporary pop artist.

Location Sydney, Australia - Australia

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