Natasha
Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is an English
singer and songwriter who has performed in the genres of contemporary
Christian
and pop
music.
She originally debuted in the 1990s
as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm
with
her siblings Daniel
Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s,
Bedingfield recorded rock and gospel songs for the Hillsong London
Church. Daniel Bedingfield went on to enjoy success with hits “Gotta
Get Thru This” and “If You're Not The One”. Natasha
and Daniel share the Guinness World Record for being the only siblings
to have had solo number-ones in UK chart history.
Natasha Bedingfield recorded
her first album "Unwritten" in 2004. The album contained primarily
uptempo pop songs
and was
influenced by R&B
music and it enjoyed international success with over 2.5 million
sold worldwide. In 2007, she received a Grammy Award nomination
for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for the song "Unwritten".
Bedingfield's second album N.B. (2007) yielded the singles "I
Wanna Have Your Babies", "Soulmate" and "Say
It Again". Bedingfield has achieved 5 top ten singles in the
United Kingdom to date and as of January 2008, she has sold over
7 million records worldwide.
Natasha Bedingfield signed a recording contract
with Sony BMG in 2003. Her first album Unwritten was released
in September
2004 and features
collaborations with Steve Kipner, Danielle Brisebois, Wayne Rodrigues,
Nick Lashley, Andrew Frampton, Wayne Wilkins, Kara DioGuardi, Guy
Chambers, Patrick Leonard and rapper Bizarre. The album contained
uptempo pop rock songs and influences from R&B music. Bedingfield's
lyrics focused on independence, opportunism and female empowerment.
Reviews of the album were generally positive and it was described
as a "well-made pop album for the new millennium" by All
Music Guide. The album debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number
one and reached the top thirty in the United States. It sold
well, reaching multi-platinum status in the United Kingdom and
the U.S. At the 2005 Brit Awards, Bedingfield was nominated for
four awards, she was also nominated for an award at the 2006 Brit
Awards and in 2007 she was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance" at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
Bedingfield's second album N.B. was
released in April 2007 in Europe. Bedingfield recollaborated with
Kipner along
with Eve and Maroon
5 singer Adam Levine. The album takes influence from a variety of
music styles such as R&B, reggae and electronica. Bedingfield
commented that it differed from Unwritten because it represented
her shifting priorities from being a single young woman to "dating,
searching for a partner" and "looking for Mr Right".
The album debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number nine and received
mixed reviews by critics, who found that it had "good pop moments...but
was pretentious".
"I Wanna Have Your Babies", the album's
lead single, was panned by critics for its "beyond-banal lyrics" about
finding the right man to father her children. The song was moderately
successful, reaching number seven in the UK, number eight in Ireland
and the top fifty in most other markets. "Soulmate" was
released as the album's second single on July 2, 2007 and also peaked
at number seven in the UK. "Say It Again" was confirmed
as the third single to be released from N.B. on October 8, 2007.
In July 2007, she appeared on an online
YouTube music video of Esmée
Denters singing "Unwritten". Bedingfield sang backing vocals
off-screen for most of the video, but joined Denters in front of
the camera at the end of the song.
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