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Welcome to The Natalie Imbruglia
Picture Pages!
Natalie Imbruglia's meteoric rise to
fame took the music industry and the world by surprise.
However, it is probably not a surprise to those who knew
her in her early days. She was born on February 4 1975,
in a small town two hours from Sydney, Australia.
She took tap and ballet lessons as a
child and demonstrated her strong will and determination
at an early age. She believed in herself and felt she
could do anything she set her mind to. Imbruglia credits
these years as the source of her strength and
perseverance as a woman. "It taught me discipline and
steadfastness", she said in an US magazine interview. "I
wasn't that good but I was so determined that I used to
put planks of wood down in the garage, and practise and
practise. I'd lie in bed at night and work my ankle
exercises."
Much to her parent's dismay, Imbruglia
then turned her focus to acting and ventured to Sydney
to find acting work. She landed several television
commercials for Coke, Bubblicious gum, and a snack
called Twisties. The more jobs she landed, the more her
parents supported her dreams of acting. They soon let
her quit the school for performing arts to concentrate
on her acting pursuits. She got a temporary role on the
popular Australian soap opera Neighbours, and
became an instant success. She was so well received by
audiences that the producers decided to make her
character permanent.
Her joy, however, was short lived, as
she grew tired of the show and eventually left to find
more satisfying work. She moved to London where she
lived in relative obscurity for two years. She did
little acting work and became enamored with the London
club scene. She refused to use her Neighbours
fame to get her ahead in London.
Natalie's first big music single,
Torn, hit radio waves as an import on an L.A.
station and went on to receive widespread airplay. Next
came the video to the song, as well as a much publicized
appearance on Saturday Night Live. When the full album,
Left of the Middle, was finally released in spring of
1998, it debuted at No.10.
It earned her a host of awards,
including MTV Music Video Awards, the Australian Record
Industry Awards, the MTV Europe Video Music Awards, and
the Billboard Music Awards, three 1999 Grammy
nominations (Best New Artist, Best Pop Album, and Best
Female Pop Vocal Performance), and two Brit Awards for
Best International Female and Best International
Newcomer. Natalie has recently returned to the spotlight
with a new album of fresh-sounding tunes. |
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