Natalie Imbruglia's welcome return to Birmingham stage
Aussie singer Natalie Imbruglia returned to the stage last year for an acoustic tour, following a lengthy hiatus. The move was a big hit, with huge numbers of fans flocking to see her.
And now Natalie is returning to the touring circuit, with a headline gig on Monday at Birmingham Town Hall.
The multi-talented performer has enjoyed a career that has featured platinum selling albums, successful movie, stage and TV roles, as well as acclaimed live tours.
She has won multiple awards including; MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Music Award, Brit Awards, and she was presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Australian Recording Industry (ARIAs).
And she is happy to be back on the road, following last year’s success. “I really enjoyed the intimate nature of the acoustic set and being able to connect with the audience. We had such a great reaction so I wanted to do some more dates and get to some of the places we weren’t able to visit the first time around,” she says.
Natalie enjoyed success in the 1990s after featuring in the Australian soap Neighbours. She began a singing career with her successful hit cover of Ednaswap’s song, Torn and the following album, Left of the Middle, sold seven million copies.
Further releases included White Lilies Island, Counting Down the Days, a hits compilation, Glorious: The Singles 97–07, Come To Life, and a cover album of songs originally performed by male artists, Male.
Male helped to reboot her career, after a period of relative inactivity. It reminded fans of the singer who had sold 10 million records worldwide.
The album featured a range of hits, from Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart and The Cure’s Friday I’m In Love to Damien Rice’s Cannonball and Daft Punk’s Instant Crush.
She said she was unsure what people would think of her version of Instant Crush: “Of course I was nervous about the reaction – I always am. But I really love my version of it, and I love the song, so it was coming from the right place in as far as I don’t think we’ve butchered their song in any way. It’s such a different interpretation, so for me you’ve got to get to a place where it can’t be about how people respond to it.” She also covered a Death Cab For Cutie song after being introduced to it by her American producer. “Working with an American producer, I was bringing the more British songs that I was used to, and he was bringing the American, so the mix of that made it really interesting. He was pushing for songs that I was like, ‘I don’t really know that, but I’ll give it a go’. Death Cab I knew some of their songs, but I wasn’t overly familiar, and Zac Brown Band I’d never heard of, and so it became fun because I discovered artists while making the record.”
Torn, of course, was the record that made Imbruglia a huge star. The song was a cover version and went to number one in the UK chart for a whopping 14 weeks – as well as hitting number one in the USA from March to July 1998.
She said: “I’m so glad that song fell into my hands. I was not even expecting to break America with my first single. That was something in my head that was going to be way down the line, after slugging it out on the road — which is fine as well.
“So now this thing’s happened, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next, because I’ve got to prove myself – which I’m quite happy to do.”
Despite her success, Natalie was given a hard time for not being the writer of the song.
“The thing is, I never said that I wrote it. This is what they get away with in the UK! What it was is, they found out there were other versions. I always credited Ednaswap and Phil Thornalley for writing the song.”
Natalie found herself at the centre of a whirlwind and she told herself to enjoy it in case it didn’t ever happen again. “It was full-on. I was scared. I look back at pictures of me at the time and I am like a rabbit in the headlights. Even when I was running around the world winning awards I was like, “f**k, what about the next album?”’
