Natalie Merchant

American singer and songwriter Natalie Merchant was born in 1963 in Jamestown. Natalie has been familiar with the music since her very childhood: her grandfather played the accordion, mandolin and guitar, and her mother was fond of The Beatles, Al Green and other musicians. Merchant’s mother influenced her daughter a lot and encouraged her to start learning the music. Natalie listened to classical music and jazz, and there is no doubt that it produced certain effect upon her creativity.

Natalie’s professional career began in 1981, when she became a vocalist in the band 10,000 Maniacs. After twelve years of joint work she decided to quit the group and start her own solo career. Moreover her talent and experience let her do that easily. Merchant wanted to start working on her material so much that she wrote the song I May Know The Word the same day she informed the other members of 10,000 Maniacs about her decision to split. Later that composition was included into the singer’s debut album Tigerlily that was released in 1995. The record was critically acclaimed and the music lovers enjoyed it as well. They had to wait for Natalie’s following album for three years: Merchant’s second studio work titled Ophelia was issued in 1998. It got fair reviews and turned out to be successful in all the aspects. Therewith the singer’s fans were pleased with such hits as Kind & Generous, My Skin and many others. Natalie’s first live album Live In Concert, recorded at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York City, appeared in 1999 and it included the original cover version of David Bowie’s song Space Oddity.

The singer’s third studio work Motherland was released in 2001. The sound of that work was quite versatile, and the song Tell Yourself reminded a lot of 10,000 Maniacs times. Natalie dedicated Motherland to all the victims of September 11, 2001, in spite of the album had been completed two days before the tragedy happened. The singer also decided to change the cover: originally she wanted to use the image of children wearing oxygen masks, playing in the field. But in connection with the events in New York such cover could become rather controversial, and Merchant decided to abandon that idea. In 2003 Natalie’s discography was enlarged by the folk album The House Carpenter's Daughter. That record included her own songs and cover versions of folk compositions. The famous British ballad House Carpenter was presented in The House Carpenter's Daughter as well.

In 2005 Merchant’s fans were pleased by an amazing compilation album Retrospective: 1995–2005, which included such famous compositions as Wonder, San Andreas Fault, Sally Ann and others. In 2010 the singer released the extremely strong conceptual album Leave Your Sleep, devoted to poetry and all its aspects. Due to an interesting idea and perfect realization all the music lovers got the original and solid record, which will be enjoyed by Natalie Merchant’s old fans and by those who are just going to get acquainted with her creativity.