Natalie Di Luccio (born 29 June 1989) is an

Italian-Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

classical-crossover singer from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. She is often referred to as "

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

Soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

" because of her unique renditions of Indian classics. Her career began in 2010 when she released music videos on YouTube of

film songs, which went viral and caught the attention of

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

and

Oscar Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning composer

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

. Di Luccio was later invited to perform with composer

Amit Trivedi Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 ...

as well as on ''

Coke Studio Coke Studio may refer to: * ''Coke Studio'' (Pakistan), a Pakistani television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio'' (India), an Indian television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio Bangla'', a Banglade ...

'' on

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...

. She started her professional career in Bollywood with notable playback singer

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

and has been a singer for various feature film soundtracks (''

English Vinglish ''English Vinglish'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde. The film stars Sridevi as Shashi Godbole, a small entrepreneur who makes snacks. Shashi enrolls in an English-speaking course to sto ...

'', ''

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl ''Ladies vs Ricky Bahl'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Maneesh Sharma from a screenplay by Devika Bhagat and produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It stars Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Cho ...

'', and ''

Chennai Express ''Chennai Express'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Gauri Khan and Karim Morani, based on a story by K. Subash, with a screenplay written by ...

''). Di Luccio has also worked with legendary Italian music producer

Mauro Malavasi Mauro Malavasi (born 21 March 1957) is an Italian pianist, songwriter and producer. He was an important figure in Italian disco with his business partner Jacques Fred Petrus and went on to write and produce hits with various Italian musicians. He ...

(

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

) in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, Italy.

Early life

Di Luccio was born on 29 June 1989 in Toronto, Ontario, and trained to be a classical singer. Her father is from

Agropoli Agropoli is a town and ''comune'' located in the Cilento area of the province of Salerno, Campania, Italy. It is situated at the start of the Cilentan Coast, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. History Pre-medieval period The promontory on which Agropoli s ...

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and her mother is from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada. She was a student at

Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts (CCAA, Cardinal Carter, or Carter) is a Catholic arts high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Admission to the school is granted through an audition process. Serving students from grade 7 to 12, it i ...

. She went to

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

to study Western classical voice and pursue a career in music. She has said that some of her musical influences growing up were singers like

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

. Di Luccio began working with

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

Canadian music producer

Matthew Tishler Matthew Tishler is an Emmy-nominated, multi-platinum songwriter and music producer who has written and produced songs for film, television, radio, stage, and theme parks. He is known for his work with teen pop artists such as Ashley Tisdale, Dove ...

at the age of 13 and continues to work with him today.

Career

Di Luccio's link with Bollywood started when she received a message over Myspace to record a small part in

's devotional album, ''Maha Ganesha'', in 2009. She later went on to record a

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

tribute song with

. Di Luccio shot to fame when she recorded and released on YouTube her version of a popular

song, " Tu Jaane Na". This music video reached over 1 million views overnight. After her YouTube success she was asked to be a part of many reality shows including Indian reality TV show ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made ...

'', but rejected these offers to focus on her music. She performed with

and

Shriram Iyer Shriram Iyer is an Indian singer who has provided the music for the Bollywood film, Iqbal and also sung the opening theme song for the Zee TV show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. He is lead singer of the fusion band "OM The Fusion Band". Life ...

the song "Bari Bari" produced by

, on ''

'', Season 2 broadcast on

and

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channel ...

(National Channel of India). In 2013, Di Luccio worked with Italian music producer

(

). She spent time in

connecting with her roots and recording new material with Malavasi. Natalie with A

In 2013, Di Luccio sang a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

song called "Prarthana". This was the first time a western classical piece had been sung in this language. Di Luccio caught the attention of

and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

winning composer

and continues to join him on several occasions for live concerts across India. She made her Tamil music debut with "Aila Aila" composed by Rahman for the film '' I'' directed by

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

. She performed the song live at the televised audio launch in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 15 September 2014. The launch was witnessed by honorary guests

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

and

Rajnikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

. In May 2015 Di Luccio was a TEDxGateway speaker in Mumbai at NCPA Theatre. She spoke about the importance of getting out of one's comfort zone and about how music brought her to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Di Luccio has sung an Arabic piece for the soundtrack of the film " Muhammad: The Messenger of God" directed by

Majid Majidi Majid Majidi ( fa, مجید مجیدی, ; born 17 April 1959) is an Iranian film director, producer, and screenwriter, who started his film career as an actor. In his films, Majidi has touched on many themes and genres and has won numerous inte ...

and composed by

A.R.Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

Personal life

Di Luccio was in a relationship with Indian film and television actor

Eijaz Khan Eijaz Khan (born 28 August 1975) is an Indian film and television actor. He rose to fame by playing the lead roles in Balaji Telefilms serials ''Kkavyanjali'', and '' Kyaa Hoga Nimmo Kaa''. He appeared in the leading role of Raidhan Raj Katara ...

from 2011 to 2015. They met on a plane during one of her initial visits to Mumbai. She said that Khan was the inspiration for her first Hindi song. In 2018, Natalie married MTV Roadies creator

Raghu Ram Raghu Ram Ambadapudi (born 15 April 1975) is an Indian television producer and actor. He was a senior supervising producer at MTV India and the creator of reality television shows ''MTV Roadies'', '' MTV Dropout Pvt Ltd'' and ''MTV Splitsvilla' ...

. On 6 January 2020, they were blessed with a baby boy named Rhythm.

Television

Di Luccio joined Season 4 of ''Life Mein Ek Baar'', an adventure travel show on

Fox Life India Fox Life India is a cable and satellite channel owned by Disney Star. The channel was previously known as Fox History & Entertainment and was renamed FOX History & Traveller in May 2011 further as Fox Traveller in October 2011 and further rena ...

. The series was shot in Hong Kong and premiered on 20 October 2015. In May 2017, Di Luccio became a part of ''Nexa Journeys on the

Asian Highway 1 Asian Highway 1 (AH1) is the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running from Tokyo, Japan via Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria west of Istanbul wh ...

'', a unique reality travel show which premiered on

Discovery Channel India Discovery Channel India is the Indian version of Discovery Channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery for the Indian subcontinent. It is available in eight languages including Hindi, English, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi w ...

. Di Luccio, along with four known personalities, (

Saransh Goila Saransh Goila (born February 17, 1987) is an Indian chef and a winner of the Food Food Maha Challenge. He founded a Mumbai-based restaurant 'Goila Butter Chicken' and is the author of the food travelogue 'India on my Platter'. In 2018 he was in ...

Pallavi Sharda Pallavi Sharda (born 5 March 1990) is an Australian actress of Indian descent, and a classical Indian Bharathanatyam dancer. Her film credits include Oscar nominated film ''Lion'' (2016), Bollywood films ''Begum Jaan'' (2017) and ''Hawaizaada'' ...

, Taras Taraporvala, and Girish Karkera), drove all the way from India to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

via

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

on the

. Di Luccio collaborated with many local musicians along the way, most notably with Rewben Mashangva in

Kohima Kohima (; Angami Naga: ''Kewhira'' ()), is the capital of the Northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Originally known as ''Kewhira'', Kohima was founded ...

, Nagaland.

Filmography

Music videos

* "Tu Jaane Na" – released on YouTube 29 September 2010 * "Kahin To Hogi Wo" – released on YouTube 2 November 2010 * "Pehla Nasha" – released on YouTube 28 April 2011 * "Baby, Te Amo" – released on YouTube 28 May 2012 * "Prarthana" – released on YouTube 19 September 2013 * "Khuda Jaane/Wrecking Ball" – released on YouTube 17 November 2013 * "O Holy Night" – released on YouTube on 12 December 2013 * "

Galliyan Galliyan () is a romantic Hindi song from the 2014 Bollywood film, '' Ek Villain''. Composed by Ankit Tiwari, the song is sung by Tiwari himself, with lyrics penned by Manoj Muntashir. The music video of the track features actors Sidharth Mal ...

" – released on YouTube 19 July 2014 * "Aila Aila" * "Konjam Nilavu" – released on YouTube 18 March 2015 * "Hamari Adhuri Kahani" – released on YouTube 20 August 2015 * "A Dream from Rajasthan (Nella Fantasia)" – released on YouTube 17 March 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Luccio, Natalie 1989 births Living people Musicians from Toronto Canadian women pop singers Canadian people of Italian descent McGill University alumni Canadian playback singers Canadian expatriates in Italy Expatriate musicians in India Canadian expatriates in India Bollywood playback singers Tamil playback singers 21st-century Canadian singers 21st-century Canadian women singers