Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut album, Unwritten, in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music.[5] It enjoyed international success with more than 2.3 million copies sold worldwide.[6] Bedingfield received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track "Unwritten", and at the 2005 and 2006 Brit Awards, she was nominated for Best British Female Artist.[7][8] Unwritten also produced her only UK number one, "These Words".
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield
26 November 1981
Cuckfield, West Sussex, England
- Singer
- songwriter
2001–present
Her second album, N.B. (2007), yielded the UK top 10 singles "I Wanna Have Your Babies" and "Soulmate". N.B. was not released in North America, but six tracks from it were included with seven new ones and released in 2008 under the name Pocketful of Sunshine, with the singles "Love Like This" and "Pocketful of Sunshine" earning success on the charts. In December 2010, Bedingfield released her third album in North America, Strip Me, with the song of the same name charting on the US Billboard Hot 100 at 91. Bedingfield has sold over 10 million albums and 10 million singles worldwide, totalling over 20 million records worldwide. In 2012, VH1 ranked Bedingfield number 66 on the list of 100 Greatest Women in Music.[9]
Early life[edit]
Bedingfield spent time in Auckland, New Zealand, during her childhood, and attended Lynfield College.[10] When Bedingfield was a teenager, she and her siblings, Daniel and Nikola, formed a dance/electronic group, The DNA Algorithm.[11] The group provided Bedingfield with the opportunity to explore different musical genres and expand her songwriting abilities.[12] She provided vocals for the group which primarily performed dance-pop music about independence and empowerment, themes that would later be found in her own solo compositions. At age 14, Bedingfield sang vocals on Origins Refined Intricacy (Steelyard Records).
Bedingfield attended a year at the University of Greenwich, where she studied psychology,[13][14] then left to concentrate on singing and songwriting. At first, she recorded demos in the garages of friends who had recording studios, which she presented to record companies. In the early 2000s, Bedingfield composed, wrote and recorded songs for Hillsong Church UK. Her songs appeared on the live albums Blessed, Shout God's Fame, and the children's album Jesus Is My Superhero by Hillsong Music Australia.[15]
Philanthropy[edit]
Bedingfield has donated time and money to organisations such as the Global Angels, an international children's charity founded by her mother, Molly Bedingfield.[73][74] She became associated with the organisation in 2006 and said she hoped to help "people around the world, particularly children, who live in conditions that would horrify us".[75]
Bedingfield is now an ambassador for Global Angels, and in November 2006 she visited India for three weeks in support of the charity. She visited an orphanage in Kolkata and a refugee camp for former child prostitutes in Mumbai to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas. Bedingfield later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed.[76] Video diaries filmed during her trip were posted on her official website in early 2007.[77] She is also an advocate for Stop the Traffik, a global coalition which works to end human trafficking[73] and a member of the (RED) campaign.[13] In a 2008 rockumentary, Call+Response, headed by Justin Dillon, Bedingfield performed acoustic versions of "Unwritten" and "Soulmate" in support of the film's cause: a movement against modern slavery and human trafficking.[78]
Non-musical projects[edit]
In 2004, Bedingfield showed interest in acting and made her debut in the James Bond video game From Russia with Love in November 2005. She voiced the character Elizabeth Stark, the British Prime Minister's daughter who is kidnapped in the opening sequence.[79] Bedingfield commented that she would like to do more acting, but only if the film "was good enough, and it was a role that [would] fit me."[79] She has made an appearance in the seventh-season finale of the Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.[80] Bedingfield also guest-starred on Nickelodeon's mockumentary series The Naked Brothers Band's "Christmas Special" alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Leon Thomas III. She has made guest appearances on the NBC series Lipstick Jungle.[81]
She guest-starred on Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP in November 2009. She sang the song "These Words". In 2012, Bedingfield made an appearance in three episodes of Web Therapy's fourth season.[82]
In December 2012, VH1 announced that Bedingfield would perform at their 2012 VH1 Divas show, a concert benefiting the Save The Music Foundation charity. Bedingfield performed Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart" with Bootsy Collins and Iggy Azalea.[83]
On 22 September 2014, Bedingfield performed a song titled "Love Song to the Earth" at the United Nations 2014 Equator Prize Gala in New York City. The song is a special anthem she and Toby Gad co-wrote for the United Nations Climate Summit 2014.[84]
In 2021, Bedingfield competed in season six of The Masked Singer as "Pepper". She was eliminated alongside John Lydon as "Jester".[85]
Personal life[edit]
On 21 March 2009, Bedingfield married American businessman Matt Robinson in Malibu, California, US.[86] In November 2017, their son, Solomon Dylan, was born.[87]
