Q488353

Biography

Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( im-BROO-lee-ə; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer, songwriter, and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera Neighbours. After leaving the series, she moved to the UK to begin a recording career. Her 1997 debut single, a cover of Ednaswap's song "Torn", quickly became a worldwide hit, topped the US Billboard Radio Songs Chart for eleven weeks in 1998, and was listed on the 50 Best Songs of the 1990s by Rolling Stone. Her debut album, Left of the Middle (1997), was a commercial success—earning multi-platinum certifications in the US, the UK and Australia, and selling seven million copies worldwide. Subsequent albums, including White Lilies Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005), were both met with commercial declines, but received gold certifications by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). As of 2021, Imbruglia has released six studio albums and sold over ten million album equivalent units worldwide. Imbruglia has received various accolades, including eight ARIA Awards, two Brit Awards, one Billboard Music Award, one Silver Clef Award and three Grammy Award nominations. Imbruglia has appeared in several films, including Johnny English (2003) and Australian indie film Closed for Winter (2009). She has modelled for several brands, such as L'Oreal, Gap, and Kailis. Among other philanthropic work, Imbruglia served as a longtime spokesperson for Virgin Unite and campaigns to raise awareness of obstetric fistula.

== Life and career ==

=== 1975–1994: Early life and career beginnings === Imbruglia was born on February 4, 1975, in Sydney, the second of four daughters of Maxene (née Anderson) and Elliot Imbruglia. Her father is of Italian descent, a Sicilian from Lipari who immigrated to Australia with his family aged five, and her mother is of Irish, Scottish and English descent, with an ancestor who arrived in Australia as a convict in the First Fleet. Imbruglia grew up in Berkeley Vale, New South Wales, and attended Mater Dei College. At 15, she moved to Sydney with her family and studied ballet, tap and Highland dancing. She completed her schooling at McDonald College. Imbruglia appeared in Australian television commercials for Coca-Cola and the Australian snack Twisties. She left school at the age of 16, to pursue acting. She secured a role as Beth Brennan on the Australian soap opera Neighbours where she shared a house with Benjamin Mitchell who played the parts of Brad Willis and Cameron Hudson. By the end of her second year, she left the show to move to London in 1994. She met Anne Barret, who became her manager and convinced her to record a demo of four songs. She signed a record deal with BMG, after a demo of "Torn" impressed RCA Records.

=== 1997–2000: Left of the Middle and international breakthrough === Imbruglia's first international single, "Torn", was a cover of a song of which the first English version was by Ednaswap, an American 1990s rock band, but it was earlier a Danish song released by Lis Sørensen. The song was released on October 27, 1997, in the United Kingdom, and peaked at number two for three weeks on the UK Singles Chart. "Torn" eventually sold over one million copies in the UK alone and became one of the bestselling singles of the 1990s in the UK. Following the success in the UK, the song was getting heavy airplay around the world since late 1997 but not in North America. "Torn" finally made its debut in the United States in January 1998 when a radio station, Los Angeles KROQ, which sensed the buzz and popularity of the song in international markets, started playing an import version of the song, which was quickly followed by other stations. MTV followed by playing its music video, and Saturday Night Live (SNL) booked Imbruglia for a live performance even before her album was available. "Torn" debuted at the Top 40 on Billboard Radio Songs Chart on 14 February 1998 and finally reached number one spot on 16 May 1998 and stayed at the summit for eleven consecutive weeks. To promote the album sales in the US, the record label decided not to release the physical single of the song, thus the song did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart during its popularity peak in mid-1998. The rule was changed due to the public and industry outcry in late-1998, and the song made its appearance on the chart for two weeks, and peaked at number 42. In other markets, "Torn" was a number one song in Canada, Denmark, and number two in her home country, Australia. Imbruglia performed "Torn" to promote the album and made several appearances on TV shows, including The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Saturday Night Live (SNL), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and MTV Movie Awards in the United States, The Prince's Trust Party in the Park and Later... with Jools Holland in the United Kingdom, as well as Hey Hey It's Saturday in Australia. Imbruglia's debut album, Left of the Middle, was released on 24 November 1997. It sold 350,000 in the UK three weeks after release and was certified platinum. It has sold 7 million copies. The second single in the UK after "Torn" was "Big Mistake", which debuted at No. 2. "Wishing I Was There" was less successful, peaking at No. 19. "Wishing I Was There" only peaked at No. 2 on UK radio in summer 1998, and in the US peaked at No. 14 on the Top 40 Show. The final single from Left of the Middle was "Smoke", which had a more divided reception. It was a hit in the UK and made the top five, while in Australia it missed the top 40. Eventually, the album became a million-seller after charting well in many countries and entering the Top 10 in the US and UK. In 1999, she recorded a cover of "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS with Tom Jones, which appeared on his album Reload. The "Torn" single and Left of the Middle album earned Imbruglia an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song, six trophies at 12th ARIA Music Award in 1998, including Best New Talent, Best Australian Debut Album, Best Female Artist, and Single of the Year, and two more trophies at 13th ARIA Music Award in 1999, including the Outstanding Achievement Award, as well as two Brit Awards for Best International Newcomer and Best International Female.

=== 2001–2004: White Lilies Island === Imbruglia's next album, White Lilies Island, in 2001, was named after where she lived beside the River Thames at Windsor. Imbruglia co-wrote every track over three years. The album's first single, "That Day", was stylistically different from her singles but did not reach the UK Top 10. In the US, "Wrong Impression" was the first single and charted in the Hot 100 Singles and adult contemporary charts. In the UK it did slightly better than That Day. "Beauty on the Fire", the final single, barely entered charts worldwide, and did not make the top 50 in Australia. The album, briefly notorious in the Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal, sold 1 million but did not repeat the success of Left of the Middle.

Imbruglia's third album was ready by November 2003; however her record label refused to release it. She was given songs to record with Swedish pop producers, Bloodshy & Avant. She and the record label separated at the beginning of 2004. Four months later she signed with Brightside Recordings, formed by a former Innocent Records executive, Hugh Goldsmith. In 2003, she appeared in the spy parody film Johnny English, playing Rowan Atkinson's love interest, Lorna Campbell, in a Bond girl–style role.

=== 2005–2008: Counting Down the Days === In April 2005, Imbruglia's third album Counting Down the Days had "Shiver" as its first single. "Shiver" became her longest-charting single in the UK since "Torn." It topped UK airplay charts for several weeks, reaching eighth in the UK. It became the most-played song of 2005. Counting Down The Days became her first album to reach the top spot on the album charts. "Sanctuary" was the second single from the album and singles sent to radio stations. The decision was later changed to the title track "Counting Down the Days", with stations asked to play the album version, because the radio mix was not finished. The single on 25 July did not have as much success in the singles chart as "Shiver," although it reignited interest in its album and received airplay in the UK. Due to the single, the album re-entered the top 40 in the UK charts. Imbruglia made a small European tour, her first since Left of the Middle, in late October and November. Though the album never entered UK Top 40 again, several concerts sold out, notably London. The album was the 100th-best-selling album in 2005, selling 204,877 copies in the UK alone. Imbruglia started on her fourth album in late 2005. In mid-2007, plans changed and her record company released a compilation of Imbruglia's 10 years in music. The only single from the album—"Glorious"—premiered in BBC Radio 1 on The Chris Moyles Show. The Singles Collection debuted at No. 5 in the UK, including the single "Glorious" as well as a DVD of Imbruglia's videos. The album sold 600,000 copies.

=== 2009–2014: Come to Life, musical hiatus and stage debut ===