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Natalie Jane Imbruglia (born February 4, 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress.

In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan Willis in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Two years after leaving the program, Natalie launched a singing career with the international hit, “Torn”. The subsequent debut album Left of the Middle (1997) sold 7 million copies worldwide. While following releases, White Lilies Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005), have been unable to match the commercial success of her debut, the latter became her first UK #1, and all are critically acclaimed. To date she has sold more than 10 million records worldwide.

Second of the four daughters to a Sicilian (Lipari) father and an Australian mother, Imbruglia grew up on the Central Coast, north of Sydney, south of Newcastle. Imbruglia studied ballet, tap, and highland dancing as a child, hoping to make a career out of it. She also sang in shopping malls and in school performances. At 14 her dance instructor encouraged her to sing with an all girl group but once at the audition, the managers saw that the strikingly pretty youngster with a beautiful voice could make it on her own. They wanted to sign her as a solo act but she refused. “They were like ‘we’re going to make you a star…’ Even at that age you couldn’t talk to me like that. I was like ‘see you later..’”

Natalie Imbruglia is one of the most successful Australian-born female singers. She has received an MTV Award for Best New Artist in 1998, and 3 constitutive Grammy Award nominations in 1999. She has sold over 9 million albums worldwide. She was ranked #11 on Rock on the Net’s list of single artists of the year in 1998, and #76 in 2001. Natalie Imbruglia has tied up her 4-album record deal with BMG after the delivery of her compilation album Glorious: The Singles 1997-2007.

Imbruglia’s first internationally released single, (1997), was a cover of an Ednaswap song. Instantly the single became one of the biggest hits of the 90s, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart and number one on airplay around the world and was number one on the Billboard Airplay chart for 14 weeks. The single went on to sell over a million copies in the United Kingdom alone.

Left of the Middle was certified platinum by RIAA within 4 weeks of release (3rd April 1998) and was certified 2X platinum in November 1998.

In April 2005, Imbruglia released her third studio album Counting Down the Days in the UK with “Shiver” as its first single. “Shiver” was a huge success, and it became her longest running single in the UK since “Torn.” It topped UK airplay charts for several weeks, reaching eighth place in the UK charts. It also became the most played song of 2005. The song’s acclaim and reception paid off and Counting Down The Days became her first album to reach the top spot on the album charts.

Imbruglia recorded the song “Cold Air” for the Mexican movie “Y tu mama tambien”, which also appeared as a B-Side on Beauty on the Fire.

A further soundtrack contribution, All The Magic, was used in the Italian animated movie Winx Club – Il Segreto Del Regno Perduto (The Secret Of The Lost Kingdom). So far this track has not been released outside of Italy.

Imbruglia is an ambassador for Virgin Unite and supports campaigns to end poverty and to bring attention to the disease known as obstetric fistula.

She has also spoken publicly of suffering from clinical depression to raise awareness about the disorder.

2008 saw Natalie step up to support the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside fellow celebrities: comedian Alan Carr, DJ & presenter Edith Bowman, actress Anna Friel and supermodel Twiggy.

She has also joined the anti-fur campaign for PETA.

Source [ Wikipedia ]