NATALiA

Visit Natalia's website at www.rock.co.za/natalia.

Natalia was born in 1986 and raised in Johannesburg until she relocated to Cape Town in 1995 where she now lives. Natalia studied music and art for Matric.

Natalia attended the Waterfront Theatre School under the tutelage of Delia Sainsbury and has taken roles in a long list of school operettas and other musical and theatrical productions.

Influences:

Natalia has always been exposed to a large and broad range of music, predominantly rock. It was the Rolling Stones 'Greatest Hits' that welcomed her home from the nursing home and which introduced this infant to a world of beautiful noise.

Among her many special influences are PJ Harvey, Aimee Mann, Rodriguez, Ben Kweller, Bic Runga, Lucinda Williams, Patti Smith, The Beatles, Shelby Lynne, Tori Amos, The Doors, Edi Brickell, Bob Dylan, and '70's punk like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Tourists, and, of course, The Clash ("She's in love with rock and roll Whooah!").

Career Details:

Natalia has been playing guitar, singing and writing her own material since age 12. She recorded her first demo, 'Fly Away', at VX Sound Studios at the Video Lab Studios at the Waterfront in March 2001. During April 2002, she recorded her second set of demos at Tim Parr's 'Front Ear Studios'.

Two songs – 'Bright Young Thing' and 'Ugly' - were produced by Ben Amato (Colorfields, The Branch). Both are original songs written by Natalia.

"He [Ben Amato] recently contributed to emerging talent Natalia's song 'Bright Young Thing'" -- SL magazine, December 2002

Natalia made her solo debut appearance at the 'Mountain Of Music' Charity Concert at The Jam/206 (now The Mercury) on Tuesday 30 April 2002. Natalia appeared alongside Venessa Nolan, Simon van Gend, and Two Wise Men on the 206 acoustic stage. Headlining the bill for the rock stage upstairs at the Jam were Karen Zoid, Kobus!, Kelvin Declined, New World Inside, Hog Hoggidy Hog, and Flow.

Natalia's set-list for her 'Mountains Of Music' appearance was: 'Always And Forever', 'Paradise', 'Ugly', 'Michelle' *, 'DJ', 'Summer Fades', 'Bright Young Thing'. (*by Anouk)



On Friday 4th October 2002, Natalia spent an afternoon in the Street Level Studios in Cape Town and recorded 10 solo tracks with Richard Black and Chris Tait.

To date, 'Beach Girl', 'Bright Young Thing', 'GFY', and 'Ugly' have charted in the Top 5 on the SA Rock Digest Top 30 mp3 charts, and other tracks from those Street Level Studios sessions, including 'Beach Girl', are also available at http://www.SAmp3.com.

Live at the Mercury Lounge:

On Thursday, December 5th 2002, Natalia appeared at the Mercury Lounge as support to Minus. The SA Rock Digest had this to say about the gig: "There's a big buzz about this rock double feature at the Mercury Lounge on Thursday 5 December. Minus have emerged during 2002 as one of the most popular bands on the UCT 'Varsity' circuit. Supporting Minus will be a much younger solo rock act currently drawing a lot of attention on the 'High School' circuit on the opposite side of Table Mountain. Natalia is a Camps Bay student who first appeared at the Mercury Lounge (then 206) on the prestigious 'Mountains Of Music' bill earlier this year. and , her first two demo releases on SAmp3.com, have received consistent downloads and her first recording proper, also due in 2003, should include 'Girlfriend', 'What Can I Say', and '9-5 (Poppy Quest)'. 2003 is the year Cape Rock explodes, catch these recommended two acts at the Mercury Lounge on Thursday"

Natalia's setlist for the gig was: '9-5 (Poppy Quest)', 'Ugly', 'Summer Fades', 'Breakdown', 'What Can I Say (When You Look At Me That Way)', 'Beach Girl', 'Girlfriend', 'GFY'.

2002 Year-End Charts:

In the SA Rock Digest's end-of-year charts for 2002, 'Ugly' was at #10 on the Top 50 Songs of 2002 list. 'Beach Girl' was also played on the SA Rock Digest's year-end 'Best of 2002' two-part program on SAFM on Friday 27 December.

In May 2005 'Nowhere's Calling' was used in an episode of the hip TV series 'Going Nowhere Slowly'. This song is available to download from MWeb.

Visit Natalia's website at www.rock.co.za/natalia.

"At The Foot Of The Master"

Natalia playing some of her songs for Rodriguez in her garden
during his second SA tour in September 2001.