- Born
- Birth nameNatalie Anne Merchant
- Nicknames
- Whirling Dervish
- Gnat
- Height5′ 1″ (1.55 m)
- Natalie Anne Merchant was born on October 26, 1963 in Jamestown, New York, USA. The third of four children, Natalie displayed a love for music at an early age, though she never thought of it as a career choice. Natalie originally wanted to become a teacher, but that changed when she met Robert Buck in 1981 and became the lead singer for 10,000 Maniacs. The band release eight albums together: Human Conflict Number Five (1982), The Secrets of the I Ching (1983), The Wishing Chair (1985), In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man's Zoo (1989), Hope Chest (1990), Our Time in Eden (1992) and MTV Unplugged (1993). Despite their commercial success, Natalie grew apart from the band and announced her departure in 1991, though she stayed until 1993 and was replaced by Mary Ramsey. Determined to do things her way, Natalie wrote and produced the album "Tigerlily" (1995). The album, highlighted by Natalie's beautiful vocals and piano playing, sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Even though Natalie was tearing up the charts, she released "Ophelia" in 1998 and proved that musical integrity is more important than record sales. The album sold well, thanks to the hit "Kind and Generous". Natalie released "Live in Concert" in 1999 and embarked on a folk tour in 2000 to adoring audiences. In November of 2001, Natalie released "Motherland" and has just wrapped up an almost year long tour. Though best known for her music, Natalie has volunteered as a children's arts and crafts teacher at numerous homeless shelters in Harlem, and has donated money for various women's and children's causes.
The year 2003 proved to be a great milestone for Natalie -- she turned forty, got married for the first time, and gave birth to her first child all in the same year. In the summer, she and her personal photographer-husband Daniel de la Calle and their daughter Lucia live in a small mountainside village outside Malaga in Southern Spain where her husband is from, winter is spent in Hawaii, and springtime is spent in Japan appreciating the blossoms in Kyoto - Merchant's "favorite city in the world". They spend the rest of the year in Upstate New York where Merchant grew up.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous 1+2 (with edit by anonymous CSBS)
- SpouseDaniel de la Calle(2003 - 2012) (divorced, 1 child)
- Barefoot dancing,,,the queen of college pop/rock
- Lots of enthusiastic, self-styled dancing, including a lot of whirling, during live performances.
- Full, deep, and sultry voice.
- Many song lyrics about social and political issues, often told from a deeply personal perspective of someone adversely impacted.
- Her childhood hero was Leonardo Da Vinci. She is able to write left-handed, upside-down and backwards, as da Vinci did.
- Natalie Merchant was the first musical guest to be asked back by David Letterman to perform for a second night in a row.
- Her favourite song by 10,000 Maniacs is "Dust Bowl".
- Took piano and voice lessons.
- Natalie has also contributed to a colouring book for Crayola. The book was based on the lyrics of "Come Take a Trip in My Airship".
- I've found out how overwhelming the media is and the way it drills things into your head, it's almost like a mind control. If I could control prople's minds, I'd like to put something useful in.
- I don't want to live in a culture of despair. I'd like to live in a culture of hope.
- People always tell me that my live shows differ greatly from my albums, which are a little more meticulous and subdued. People come see me live, and I'm cracking jokes and dancing around like a savage, and it's truly unpredictable. There should be a record of that.
- A lot of things are personal experiences disguised as other people's experiences. I can't remove the autobiographical slant from the things I write. You always bring yourself into what you're writing.
- Britain was the first place I ever travelled outside the United States so when I arrived in London at the age of 19, everything was exciting - the sense of history and all these cute guys with British accents.
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