Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Imbruglia is one of the most successful Australian-born female singers. She has received one MTV Awards for Best New Artist in 1998, and 3 constitutive nominations of Grammy Awards 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. Her first internationally released single, "Torn", 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 chart for 14 weeks.
The single went on to sell over a million copies in the United Kingdom alone. It was also released as a radio single in the US, but not in buyable CD-format. The single quickly hit #1 on the Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it stayed for 14 weeks.
At the time singles not released commercially were unable to chart to the overall Hot 100 chart (combined sales and airplay) so "Torn" made no appearance on it for a while. By the time the policy was changed in late 1997 to allow airplay-only songs, "Torn" was already heading down the charts, so its peak on the Hot 100 only ended up being at #42. The single also topped the Top 40 Mainstream/CHR Pop and Adult Top 40 charts. In October 1997, it broke the all time airplay record in the UK for being the most played (more than 2000 plays) for six consecutive weeks. It was, finally No. 1 for 11 weeks in the UK radio chart, a record that is being tied by only Simply Red's Fairground. It was No. 1 radio single in the USA from March to July 1998.
It was knocked down to No. 2 by Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited". Imbruglia made a surprise appearance alongside David Armand midway through a performance of his supposed 'interpretative dance' routine to her hit song Torn at Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006) The royalty Imbruglia received from Torn single and airplay is rumoured to be GBP 5 million in 1997 and 1998. Since then, she received no less than GBP 1 million annually due to the prolonged airplay of the song worldwide. Her debut album Left of the Middle followed soon after.
The second single released in the UK, after "Torn" was "Big Mistake." The song debuted at number-two. "Wishing I Was There" followed and it was less successful than her first two singles, reaching number 19. However, "Wishing I Was There" was a smash hit on the UK radio, peaked at No. 2 in summer 1998, and was a summer smash hit in the USA radio, peaked at No. 14 on the Top 40 Show. The final single from Left of the Middle was "Smoke", and the reception was much more divided compared to the other singles. It was a hit in the UK and made the top 5, while in Australia it just missed the top 40. Eventually, the album became a million-seller after charting well in many countries and entering the Top 10 in the US and UK. In 1999, she recorded a cover of the song Never Tear Us Apart by INXS with Tom Jones which appeared on his album Reload. 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. On June 23rd it was announced that Natalie would release a singles collection titled Glorious: The Singles 1997-2007 on September 10th.
Natalie initially did not want to release the collection, opting for her fourth studio album instead, but was apparently made to compromise with record producers by adding a few new tracks. The release featured five new tracks including: "Glorious", and "Be With You", former of which was released on 27th August 2007. A bonus DVD is included. It is currently not known whether Natalie's 4th studio album is given green light to be released in March 2008. The tracks Scars and Shine on You (both live versions) leaked online and immediately picked up by fans. Some sources have appeared that Brightside is asking several heavyweight producers for remixing the tracks prior the album release and distribution.