Singer
Songwriter

Natalie's Website

About Natalie

Natalie says, “I never really knew where songs came from. Or thought that there was such a place where songwriters congregated more than anywhere else on the planet so Nashville was never on the cards, it wasn’t a dream I had as a child to get there, I hadn’t even heard of the place until my parents got back from an overseas trip that included a two day stay in which they went to the Ryman Auditorium, home of the original Grand Old Opry, and saw some live music there. But the concept of Nashville and what it would come to mean to me still hadn’t hit me yet.

One year later my mother and I planned a girl’s trip overseas together, so we went to the States and visited friends. We happened to stay with some friends who lived in Branson Missouri, a town known to cater to bus loads of tourists year round eager to be entertained by the likes of Mickey Gilley, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Tony Orlando, Wayne Newton, the Osmonds and many other variety shows I thought this was all a bit ho-hum until I happened to be asked to try out to be a backup singer for the Anita Bryant Show and the thought doing something like that was exciting. I quickly made an acoustic demo tape and was accepted, but as fate would have it, the whole show was cancelled and Anita closed her theatre for undisclosed reasons. Although I hadn’t planned on living and working in the States, I was still disappointed because time was running out and we had to get back home. We decided to go do a little more quick sight seeing, so we jumped on a greyhound bus and landed in Nashville, Tennessee. We ended up extending our stay for almost two weeks and I was hooked – hooked on the writers and the whole lifestyle. My mum knew that I would be back and three months later I did return to Nashville after writing several songs while I was home and receiving a grant from the Redcliffe ‘Regional Arts Development Fund’ {RADF} to fly to Nashville to record some of my songs. It was an experience that only proved to stimulate my enthusiasm for the craft.

When I arrived in Nashville, I didn’t really know a soul, at least not in the music industry. I spent one full year in Nashville the first time and since then, I have returned annually for different lengths of stay. Over this time I have developed friendships along the way with a lot of great songwriters and have been fortunate enough to write many songs with them. As an artist, I have only begun to emerge. I have predominately been a writer first but have since been encouraged to begin singing my own material. I have performed in conjunction with other artists and writers during their shows at the famous Bluebird Café and during the annual Tin Pan South songwriters’ week in Nashville as well as at various other writers’ parties and hangouts around town.

“The long term goal here is to carve out a musical career that incorporates all my loves; singing, and song writing not only for me but for other acts. I think it is a great honour when someone else records your material.” Natalie Howard.

Upon her Australian release of her debut single 'Love You Anyway' in December 2003, DJs nation-wide embraced Natalie's contemporary style and personality. The track gained Natalie a nomination as a Finalist in the Rising Star ‘Female’ category of the 2004 Telstra Country Wide Southern Stars Independent Country Music Awards in Mildura and a Finalist in the ‘Hawking Brothers Best New Talent’ category of the 2005 Victorian & National Country Music Awards. “Love You Anyway” is a promise of unconditional love that will stay true and constant through any times of change or struggle. The second track on this debut release, ‘I Want To Get Out’ is a song consisting of emotional imagery expressing the discontent someone feels when they are involved in an unhealthy relationship. “I have been in this situation before and I don’t think I even noticed how bad things were at the time, until I moved on. So I got to express my thoughts on the matter through the song.” Both tracks gained considerable airplay on Australian and New Zealand air waves and are featured on her debut album. In February 2005 Natalie received runner-up in the Bluegrass/Country category of the (IAMA) International Acoustic Music Awards with her acoustic recording of ‘I Want to Get Out’ which is available on the single EP release of ‘Love You Anyway’.

In September 2004 Natalie won 1st and 3rd place in the ‘Open Ballad’ category of the Tasmania & New Zealand Song writing Contest with 2 songs that are on her debut album ‘Yesterday’s Make-up’. In addition she was placed as a Finalist in 3 other categories.

Natalie’s follow up track ‘I Don’t Want To Live Like That’, a Country Tracks Top 20 Hit released in June 2004 [on NFS compilation No 89], is featured on her debut album ‘Yesterday’s Make-up’ produced by Michael Flanders of Brisbane. This track highlights Natalie’s approach to her brand of new style country, fusing rock guitars with a strong drum groove and a great melody. And the video clip showcases Natalie’s expressive ‘live’ performance and “Nattie-tude”, as she calls it! Co-written with guest singer-songwriter James Dean Hicks (Heaven Help Me-Wynonna Judd/Goodbye Time-Blake Shelton), 'I Don't Want To Live Like That' is about being the best person you can be - opening up to allow better relationships into your life. Natalie explains "Sometimes you find out what type of person you don't want to be, before you figure out what kind of person you do want to be (in a relationship)." 'I Don't Want To Live Like That' subsequently came in at the #14 spot on the 'Country Airplay ‘15 Most Played' tracks in The Music Network Magazine.

Things have certainly been on a roll for Natalie, with a finalist nomination in the Rising Star Female category at the 2004 Australian Independent Country Music Awards and her sensational debut album 'Yesterday's Makeup' just hitting the racks across Australia.

Natalie’s next release ‘The Long Night’, a duet co-written by Natalie with noted Nashville songwriters Terry McBride and Tommy Lee James, (who have worked extensively with Jedd Hughes on his CD 'Transcontinental') was sent to radio [on NFS compilation No. 93] in December 2004. Natalie is joined by Kentucky born and Nashville based artist/songwriter James Dean Hicks. With its modern blend of mandolin, fiddle and steel, this passionate duet captures the feeling of two people who share the same loneliness and deep longing for each other from a distance.

'The Long Night' entered the COUNTRY TRACKS TOP 30 CHART at #28 and climbed to #13, and reached the #2 spot on the Independent Country Music Chart; Mildura HotFM 100 Country Hits. 'The Long Night' was also a “Country Airplay - 15 Most Played” track, holding for 7 weeks and noted in the Music Network Magazine Chart.

Natalie achieved her first #1 hit with her video clip, 'The Long Night', on the CMC TOP 20 COUNTDOWN CHART. Filmed partially on Coogee Beach, Sydney and in Nashville, by Golden Guitar Award recipient Ross Wood, this natural and passionate clip cleverly depicts the meaning of the song by keeping the singers separate from one another in all scenes. ‘The Long Night’ continues to be added to other Australian TV Networks for broadcast.

'The Long Night' also appears on the CMC COUNTRY 2005 Double CD set (released by EMI Australia August 2005) with 39 of the most popular tracks played on Country Music Channel (Australian cable channel on Austar and Foxtel Digital). CD 1 contains 21 favorites from Aussie artists, like Kasey Chambers, Paul Kelly and Keith Urban, & CD 2 showcases 18 hit tracks from the USA.

'You Never Knew Me' was released to Australian Radio August 2005 and is the follow up release to NATALIE HOWARD's two previous Country Tracks Top 20 Hits, 'I Don't Want To Live Like That' and 'The Long Night'. This fourth release off her sensational Australian debut album ‘Yesterday's Make-up’ is a quirky, tongue in cheek, upbeat acoustic driven toe-tapper that Natalie herself best describes it's catchy style as 'Newgrass'. This song is Natalie's own interpretation of Bluegrass Country and shows her sense of humour and versatility as an artist songwriter. 'You Never Knew Me', written by Natalie with Brian Dean Maher (Mindy McCready, Lila McCann, Lonestar) is a frank retort to an old flame. After realizing he's made a mistake in leaving her, he tries to smooth things over and get back together but she will have none of it!

Natalie returned from Nashville to perform songs from her album 'Yesterday's Makeup' during the 2005 Mildura Country Music Festival and The Australian Independent Country Music Awards Presentation during the month of September.

The music video for ‘You Never Knew Me’ celebrated 3 weeks at #1 on the CMC Top 20 Countdown over the Christmas period. Filmed by Golden Guitar Award recipient Ross Wood at a secluded location a couple hours drive south of Nashville Tennessee in the town of Cornersville. One scene required a birthday party sequence, so Natalie filled her video with a lot of her close friends, and a slap happy Bluegrass band.

‘Is It Just Me’ was released to the Australian Radio January 2006 [on NFS compilation No. 102]. Is It Just Me is the fifth release from NATALIE HOWARD's splendid Australian debut album ‘Yesterday's Makeup’. With three previous consecutive Country Tracks Top 20 Hits this Queenslander, December 2005 Musicoz Award winning artist and 2006 US Independent Music Award winner of the ‘Country Song of the Year’, is now certainly on a roll.

Written by Natalie with noted Nashville songwriters Rob Crosby (MARTINA MCBRIDE/BROOKS & DUNN) and Craig Carp (ALAN JACKSON), in this song Natalie asks the question, "Is this a one sided love affair?". This is modern country, mixed with pop and rock styles that artists like SHANIA or KEITH URBAN lean towards. Natalie said about her new song, “It opens with an ear-catching sliding pedal steel hook and fusing guitars, it grabs your attention and gets you in the mood for summer with a spunky beat that makes you want to turn it up as you're driving down the highway with the wind in your hair. I just love this song, it always gets me in a good mood.”

The music video for ‘Is It Just Me’ was filmed in the Lebanon and Franklin areas in Nashville by Aussie film maker Ross Wood. Starring Daytime TV Star actor Brian Gaskill [As The World Turns, The Bold and The Beautiful, Port Charles] with his beautiful wife, country singer/songwriter Tonya Watts. Airing from March 25th 2006 on CMC Australia.

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