Actor Make America Sleep Again Merchan
| Natalie Merchant | |
|---|---|
 Merchant performing in 2017 | |
| Groundwork data | |
| Birth name | Natalie Anne Merchant |
| Born | (1963-10-26) Oct 26, 1963 Jamestown, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative rock, pop, pop rock, Americana, folk, folk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboard, piano |
| Years active | 1981–nowadays |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts |
|
| Website | Official website |
Natalie Anne Merchant (built-in October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter.[1] She joined the band x,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the grouping. She remained with the grouping for their beginning seven albums and left information technology to begin her solo career in 1993. She has since released seven studio albums.
Early on life [edit]
Natalie Merchant was built-in October 26, 1963, in Jamestown, New York,[1] the 3rd of four children of Anthony and Anne Merchant. Her paternal grandfather, who played the accordion, mandolin and guitar, emigrated to the U.s.a. from Sicily; his surname was "Mercante" before it was Anglicized.[2]
When Merchant was a child, her mother listened to music (primarily Petula Clark merely also the Beatles, Al Greenish, Aretha Franklin)[3] and encouraged her children to study music, just would not allow TV after Natalie was 12. "I was taken to the symphony a lot because my female parent loved classical music. Only I was dragged to see Styx when I was 12. Nosotros had to bulldoze 100 miles to Buffalo, New York. Someone threw up next to me and people were smoking pot. Information technology was terrifying. I remember Styx had a white pianoforte which rose out of the stage. It was awe-inspiring and inspirational."[4] "She [her female parent] had show tunes, she had the soundtrack from Due west Side Story and S Pacific. And so eventually... she'd e'er liked classical music and then she married a jazz musician, so that's the kind of music I was into. I never really had friends who sat around and listened to the stereo and said 'hey, listen to this i', so I'd never even heard of who Bob Dylan was until I was 18."[5] Merchant says she did not have a TV betwixt 1988 and 1989: "I grew up in a house where no one watched the news on television set and no ane read the paper. I've been discovering these things as I get older, and the news has afflicted me more than information technology always has before."[vi]
Merchant started working in a health nutrient store at 16.[7] She considered a career in special education later on taking part in a summer program for disabled children, but in 1981 she started singing for a band, Nonetheless Life, that became x,000 Maniacs.[vii]
Career [edit]
10,000 Maniacs [edit]
Merchant became known for her swirling style of dancing and her simple wearing apparel while performing with 10,000 Maniacs.
Merchant was lead singer and chief lyricist for 10,000 Maniacs, joining in its infancy in 1981 while she was a student at Jamestown Community College.[one] The grouping recorded their anthology Human Conflict Number Five, and recorded a corresponding music video at the Hotel Franklin and at Grouping Westward Westinghouse studios in Jamestown, New York, in 1982. Merchant sang lead vocals, and subsequently played the pianoforte as well on seven studio albums with ten,000 Maniacs. In 1993 she announced that she was leaving the grouping, citing a lack of creative control over the music she wrote with the band.[8] Her last recording with the band, a cover of Bruce Springsteen's and Patti Smith's "Because the Night" at the 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged performance, reached #11 on the Hot 100 nautical chart on February xviii, 1994; becoming the ring's highest-charting vocal in the U.Due south.[9]
Tigerlily (1995) [edit]
Later her split with 10,000 Maniacs, Merchant was and then eager to brainstorm writing her own material that she went home that very day and composed the song "I May Know the Discussion", which was originally meant to announced on the soundtrack to the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia.[1] The song was somewhen cut from the soundtrack, but it would go on to appear on Merchant'southward debut solo anthology, Tigerlily, which was released on the Elektra label in 1995.[i] Merchant chose to proper noun the album that as she felt information technology captured the anthology's experience, which she described as both "trigger-happy" and "delicate".[ citation needed ]
The third song on the album, "Dear Wife", was featured as the first song in the trailer for the film Message in a Bottle.
Seeking creative control, Merchant chose to fund the album herself, refusing the advance from the record company. She also wanted to work with a cadre group of immature musicians who she felt would be enthusiastic nigh the music.[ commendation needed ] The group would consist of guitarist Jennifer Turner, bassist Barrie Maguire, and erstwhile Wallflower and eventual young man, Peter Yanowitz, who played drums on the album,[1] and who continued to do and then with the vocalist until their abrupt dissever in 2000.
Tigerlily was a disquisitional and commercial success, spawning her showtime top-ten hit in the single "Carnival", and achieving top-40 success with subsequent singles "Wonder" and "Jealousy". The album would keep to sell over v million copies, and continues to be Merchant'due south most successful album to engagement. She did all-encompassing touring for it and made numerous tv set appearances, including performances on Saturday Night Live, at the Stone and Roll Hall of Fame, and on late-nighttime talk shows. The media's immediate and critical issue on culture and cultural icons was of particular involvement to Merchant.[ citation needed ] In "River", a vocal from Tigerlily, Merchant defends River Phoenix equally she castigates the media for systematically dissecting the child actor subsequently his death.[ commendation needed ]
Ophelia (1998–1999) [edit]
Three years passed before Merchant released her second solo endeavour, Ophelia. While Tigerlily contained sparse instrumentation, the music on Ophelia had lusher arrangements. The reprise at the shut of the album featured a symphonic arrangement composed and conducted past British composer Gavin Bryars with whom she would collaborate nine years later to put Shakespeare'due south sonnets to music.[10] Merchant treated the recording of Ophelia as a series of workshops, where she would invite diverse musicians she had met over the years into her dwelling studio to interact and record. While Ophelia is non a concept record in the traditional sense, the proper noun of the album and the championship runway are a literary reference to Shakespeare'southward Ophelia.
The first single off the anthology was a happy and uncharacteristically simple song called "Kind and Generous", which received massive airplay on VH1 and which solidified Merchant's office as a bona fide solo artist. That summer, Sarah McLachlan invited Merchant to co-headline the year'due south biggest music festival with her, Lilith Fair. The exposure from the tour helped the album reach Platinum status in just under a year, with subsequent singles "Break Your Middle" and "Life Is Sweet" receiving moderate airplay on adult contemporary stations. No video was filmed for the latter, however, with a prune from Merchant's appearance on VH1 Storytellers beingness used instead. She would besides go on to appear on PBS' Sessions at Due west 54th and VH1'south Hard Rock Alive before the yr'southward end. In 1998, Merchant also recorded George Gershwin's "But Not for Me" for the Carmine Hot Organization's compilation album Crimson Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised coin for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS sensation and fighting the affliction.
The Ophelia bout concluded in 1999 with the final few shows being performed and recorded on Broadway. The functioning would exist released every bit the album Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert with a companion video of the same name. The functioning was notable in that it featured numerous covers including songs by David Bowie, Neil Young, and Katell Keineg.
In 1998, Merchant collaborated on the making of the album Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg and Wilco, which set previously unreleased Guthrie lyrics to music past Bragg. She provided pb vocals for the song "Birds and Ships" and backing vocals for "Way Over Yonder in the Modest Key",[11] [12] and returned for the second volume of the anthology, 2000s Mermaid Artery Vol. II, providing vocals on the song "I Was Born".
American folk music bout (2000) and Motherland (2001) [edit]
In 2000, Merchant embarked on a folk tour in the United States with many shows being supported by alt-land band Wilco.
Merchant'south side by side studio album on the Elektra characterization was Motherland, released in 2001. Motherland saw Merchant at her nigh experimental musically. Motherland achieved Gold on the Billboard charts after debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and No. thirteen on the Top Internet Albums of 2001, respectively. Rolling Stone favored this album with 3½ stars, and too noticed a difference in Merchant's vocalization, which was more than deep and gritty like that of Sade than her previous albums. Singles that were released from Motherland were "Just Can't Final", "Build a Levee" and "Tell Yourself".
Merchant embarked on a yr and a one-half globe tour to promote Motherland. The first leg of the tour started in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 17, 2001, with performances across the United States, and heading to Europe with some special acoustic shows in Europe. Merchant also participated in the Rock am Ring Festival and Rock im Park in 2002. In the summer of 2002, she was paired with Chris Isaak and played at stadiums and arenas.
The Business firm Carpenter'southward Girl (2003) [edit]
Merchant at the piano in 2005
After her contract with Elektra expired in August 2002, Merchant decided non to sign with them again, or any other major label.[thirteen] Her side by side studio anthology, The House Carpenter'south Daughter, was released in September 2003 on her ain label, Myth America Records. To engagement this has been the only release on Myth America.
Go out Your Sleep (2010) [edit]
In October 2009, the websites of Nonesuch Records and Natalie Merchant announced that she had signed with the label. Exit Your Slumber was released on April xiii, 2010[14] and is a compilation of v years of inspiration from a "conversation" with her daughter over the "beginning 6 years of her life". The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at No. 17, Billboard Folk Albums at No. 1, Amazon.com at No.ane, and iTunes, No. 3. The album was co-produced past Andres Levin.
Merchant contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game" to the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, released September 6, 2011.
Natalie Merchant (2014) [edit]
In February 2014, Merchant appear her eponymous album. The album consists of new works. It is her first collection of original textile since 2001'due south Motherland. Natalie Merchant was released May 6, 2014, on Nonesuch Records and was named Album of the Week by The Daily Telegraph. [ citation needed ] The album debuted at #20 on Billboard 'south Top 200 albums and #2 on Billboard 's Folk Albums charts for the week of May 24, 2014. She toured from July iii, 2014, kicking off in Kingston, New York, concluding at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee on July 25, 2014.[ citation needed ]
Paradise Is In that location: The New Tigerlily Recordings (2015) [edit]
In 2015, Merchant released an album of new recordings of the songs from her multi-platinum solo album. She enhanced many of the tracks with strings and stripped others bare. She says, "The altitude this music traveled once it left my hands is humbling, and I am moved by how many lives information technology has touched along the style."[15]
Butterfly (2017) [edit]
In 2017, Merchant released Butterfly, a collection of new songs and orchestral versions of previously recorded songs.
Personal life [edit]
Merchant met Michael Stipe of the band R.E.M. in 1983. The two became close friends and eventually had a romantic relationship. The two credit each other equally inspirations for some of their songwriting. In an interview with The Contained, Stipe said "Natalie was really the reason my work became politicised in the belatedly Eighties."[xvi]
In 2003, Merchant married Daniel de la Calle and had a daughter named Lucia. In an interview in 2012, she indicated that she was divorced.[17] [18]
Merchant enjoys gardening and painting.[xix] Some of her paintings can be seen on her website. She has been a vegetarian since 1980,[20] except for the duration of her pregnancy when she temporarily resumed eating meat.[17] In 1997, she said:
The '60s aesthetic has never really appealed to me, the tie-dyed Deadhead running barefoot through the wood on LSD. I don't think that's actually me. But I've been a vegetarian for 17 years, and I consider myself an environmentalist in as much every bit I can be, considering the job that I take. I prefer living in the countryside rather than the city—I discover it more sane and sustaining for myself.[21]
Activism [edit]
In 2012, Merchant, along with thespian and author Marker Ruffalo, organized a concert to protest oil and gas fracking in New York state. A documentary, written and directed by Jon Bowermaster, was made of the event and titled Beloved Governor Cuomo.[22] She directed a short 2013 documentary titled Shelter: A Concert Film to Do good Victims of Domestic Violence, that shone calorie-free on a grouping of women living in the mid-Hudson region of New York State responding to the crisis of domestic violence in their community with compassion and creativity. Information technology was inspired by an event for One Billion Rising, a global campaign calling for an end to violence against women, held on February fourteen, 2013. Merchant presented a screening of the film at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, New York, on the mean solar day of One Billion Rising for Justice.[23]
Merchant, an outspoken critic of and then-President-elect Donald Trump, participated in an anti-Trump protest organized by Mark Ruffalo and Michael Moore, held exterior Trump International Hotel and Belfry in New York City on January xix, 2017. Merchant performed her single "Motherland". She concluded the event with a group sing-along of Woody Guthrie's "This State Is Your State". The event was covered by CNN and broadcast live.[ citation needed ]
Merchant is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and has worked with them in the by on awareness campaigns.[24]
Awards and nominations [edit]
Discography [edit]
With 10,000 Maniacs [edit]
- Human Conflict Number V (EP) (1982)
- Secrets of the I Ching (1983)
- The Wishing Chair (1985)
- In My Tribe (1987)
- Blind Homo'southward Zoo (1989)
- Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982–1983 (1990)
- Our Fourth dimension in Eden (1992)
- MTV Unplugged (1993)
- Bivouac Songs: The Pop, Obscure and Unknown Recordings (2004)
Solo [edit]
- 1995: Tigerlily
- 1998: Ophelia
- 2001: Motherland
- 2003: The House Carpenter's Girl
- 2010: Leave Your Slumber
- 2014: Natalie Merchant
- 2015: Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings
- 2017: Butterfly
Filmography [edit]
Films [edit]
| Yr | Championship | Office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Time Capsule | Herself (vocals, piano, organ) | Video documentary |
| 1996 | Ane Fine Day | Performer "One Fine Twenty-four hour period" | Soundtrack |
| 1998 | Ophelia | Performer | Short film |
| 1999 | Bringing Out the Dead | Performer/writer: "These Are Days" | Soundtrack |
| 1999 | Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert | Herself (vocals, piano) | Live concert video |
| 2002 | When in Rome | Performer/writer: "These Are Days" | Soundtrack |
| 2003 | Cheaper by the Dozen | Performer/writer: "These Are Days" | Soundtrack |
| 2004 | Purgatory House | Performer/writer: "My Skin" | Soundtrack |
| 2005 | Earthlings | Composer | Documentary |
| 2006 | Candida | Performer/writer: "Motherland" | Soundtrack |
Television [edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | The Tube | Herself (as ten,000 Maniacs) | (Aqueduct 4, U.k.) Aired 1985; "My Mother the State of war" and "Can't Ignore the Train" |
| 1988 | Saturday Night Live | Herself (as x,000 Maniacs) | (NBC) Aired February 27, 1988; "Peace Railroad train" and "Like the Weather" |
| 1989 | The Arsenio Hall Evidence | Herself (equally 10,000 Maniacs) | "Eat for Two" |
| 1990 | MTV Unplugged | Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) | MTV |
| 1992 | Sabbatum Night Live | Herself (as x,000 Maniacs) | (NBC) Aired October 31, 1992; "Candy Everybody Wants" and "These Are Days" |
| 1993 | MTV Unplugged | Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) | Showtime creative person to make second appearance |
| 1993 | Rock & Roll Inaugural Ball | Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) | |
| 1993 | MTV VMAS | Herself – presenter | Boob tube special |
| 1995 | Concert for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame | Herself – performer | "I Know How to Do Information technology" |
| 1995 | Saturday Night Live | Herself – performer | (NBC) Host David Schwimmer |
| 1996 | Late Show with David Letterman | Herself – performer | (NBC) Host David Letterman "Wonder" |
| 1997 | Sessions at W 54th | Herself – performer | (PBS) "Planctus" with Philip Glass |
| 1998 | Saturday Night Live | Herself – performer | (NBC) Host Matthew Broderick |
| 1998 | Hard Rock Live | Herself – performer | VH1 |
| 1998 | VH1 Storytellers | Herself – performer | Later released every bit DVD |
| 1998 | Sessions at Due west 54th | Herself – performer | (NBC) Host David Byrne |
| 1999 | Homo in the Sand | Herself | Video documentary |
| 1999 | Belatedly Night with Conan O'Brien | Musical guest | (NBC) "Life Is Sweet" |
| 1999 | Lifetime's Intimate Portrait | Herself | Biographical |
| 2000 | ABC 2000: The Millennium | Herself – performer | "Kind and Generous" |
| 2001 | Come up Together: A Night for John Lennon'south Words & Music | Herself – performer | "Nowhere Homo" |
| 2001 | Up Close and Personal | Herself – performer | Oxygen |
| 2002 | Austin City Limits | Herself – performer | PBS |
| 2003 | Go Farther | Herself | Documentary |
| 2010 | Good Morn America | Herself – performer | ABC News |
| 2015 | The Today Show | Herself – performer | NBC News |
| 2016 | The Andrew Marr Show | Herself – performer | "Where I Get" (BBC UK; aired March xx, 2016) |
| 2019 | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Herself – performer | "These Are the Days" |
| Talk show | Twelvemonth |
|---|---|
| The Arsenio Hall Show | 1989 |
| Late Show with David Letterman | 1995, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2001, 2004 |
| The Rosie O'Donnell Show | 1996, 1996, 1998, 1998, 1999, 1999, 2001, 2002 |
| The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2010 |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | 2019 |
| The Katie Testify | 2014 |
| One 60 minutes with Jonathan Ross | 12 November 1989 |
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 835/6. ISBN1-85227-745-9.
- ^ Cromelin, Richard (Baronial 13, 1989). "The Queen of Nostalgia Gets Real 10,000 Maniacs' Natalie Merchant puts focus on the here and now". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved October four, 2020.
- ^ "Natalie Merchant", The Buffalo News, December 5, 1995
- ^ "Natalie Merchant", Q, January 1994
- ^ "Natalie Merchant", Melody Maker, IPC Media, September 22, 1984
- ^ "Natalie Merchant", The San Diego Marriage-Tribune, Platinum Disinterestedness, August 18, 1989
- ^ a b Van Meter, Jonathan (September 1989), "She Sells Sanctuary", Spin, Spin Media LLC, p. 46, retrieved April 10, 2010
- ^ Printing, Joy (July 23, 1995), "Compages; Natalie Merchant Steps Back From Rock's Cutting Edge", The New York Times , retrieved Apr 10, 2010
- ^ "ten,000 Maniacs". Billboard . Retrieved July seven, 2020.
- ^ "Zero LIKE THE Dominicus – Merchant collaborates with British composer Gavin Bryars to put sonnets to music for The Royal Shakespeare Visitor's festival". The Official Natalie Merchant Website . Retrieved October 11, 2014.
- ^ Harris, Michael C. (August 6, 1998). "When Words Aren't Enough". miaminewtimes.com . Retrieved Baronial 21, 2021.
- ^ "Fashion Over Yonder In The Minor Central". Wilcoworld.internet . Retrieved August 21, 2021.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (March xiii, 2003), "Natalie Merchant, No Strings Attached", The New York Times , retrieved April ten, 2010
- ^ "Merchant Marks Release of "Leave Your Slumber" on NPR's "Morning Edition," ABC'due south "GMA"; BBC Cites Its "Sheer Ravishing Beauty" | Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com. Apr 13, 2010. Retrieved May fifteen, 2015.
- ^ Records, Nonesuch. "Natalie Merchant'due south "Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings" with Companion Documentary on DVD Out Now". Nonesuch.com. Nonesuch Records. Retrieved Jan 23, 2018.
- ^ "How we met: Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant". Independent.co.great britain. November 8, 1998. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- ^ a b Welby, Julianne (2008), "Interview with Natalie Merchant", Words & Music from Studio A, WFUV, retrieved June 24, 2012
- ^ Rowley, Laura (January 31, 2012). "Natalie Merchant On Motherhood As Muse". Huffington Post.
- ^ Vox, 1995, Cleveland Evidently Dealer, 1993; U.s.a. Mag, 1996 and others
- ^ DeSilver, Drew (March 1989), "One in x,000", Vegetarian Times, p. 56, retrieved Apr 10, 2010
- ^ "Natalie Merchant", The Indianapolis Star, Gannett Visitor, Oct 24, 1995
- ^ "Gunpowder & Sky | An Contained Global Studio". Gunpowdersky.com. February xix, 2019. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved Oct vi, 2019.
- ^ "Watch: Natalie Merchant'due south "SHELTER" Concert Film Inspired by Ane Billion Rising | Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com. February 11, 2014. Retrieved May ix, 2014.
- ^ "Radio - Artists Against Racism". Artistsagainstracism.org . Retrieved Oct 6, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard". May 31, 1997.
- ^ "Billboard". May 29, 1999.
- ^ "Archived re-create". www.pollstarpro.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved January xi, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as championship (link) - ^ "Archived copy". www.pollstarpro.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
{{cite spider web}}: CS1 maint: archived re-create every bit championship (link)
External links [edit]
- Official website
- Natalie Merchant at Curlie
- Natalie Merchant at IMDb
- Natalie Merchant discography at MusicBrainz
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Merchant