Nate Gilbertson (born 14 July 1985), often known simply as Nathaniel, is a South African-born Australian singer and songwriter most notable for finishing sixth on the fourth season of ''

The X Factor Australia ''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...

''. In 2013, he signed a recording contract with

DNA Songs DNA Songs is a songwriting and production company founded by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci in Australia in 2004. They have worked with a variety of international and local artists including Ricky Martin, Geri Halliwell, The Veronicas, Guy S ...

' label through

Sony Music Australia Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...

, and released the single "

You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

", which peaked at number four on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Early life

Nathaniel Willemse was born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and moved to Frankston,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia when he was six years old. He attended Karingal Park Secondary College, now known as McClelland College. In 2006, he auditioned for ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

'' series four and made it to the top 24 round before being eliminated. On 22 January 2008, Willemse released his debut single "Vertigo" exclusively on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

, through Mummy's Boy Records. The single's release also included two B-side tracks, "Shall Be Told" and "Home", each co-written by Willemse. On 29 October 2011, Willemse independently released his first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, ''EP'', and second single, "You Are the One". Before applying for ''

'' in 2012, Willemse was a vocal coach and a wedding singer.

Career

2012: ''The X Factor Australia''

Willemse successfully auditioned for the fourth season of ''The X Factor'' in 2012 singing John Mayer's "

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

". During the super bootcamp stage of the competition, Willemse sang "

I Gotta Feeling "I Gotta Feeling" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fifth studio album ''The E.N.D.'' (2009). It was written by the group members with the song's producers David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. The song was rel ...

" by

The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim Hil ...

and " You Give Me Something" by James Morrison. Willemse made it to the home visits as part of the Over 25s category. For the first live performance show on 17 September 2012, Willemse sang

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

's " Love on Top" and received praise from all four judges.

Mel B Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Melanie B or Mel B, is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sc ...

called the performance "incredible" and said that his voice is "bloody marvellous", while

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

added that he has a lot of soul. Willemse then made his way through to the top six. His performance of " The Scientist" debuted at number 75 on the ARIA Singles Chart after his performance in the fourth week. In week seven, Willemse was placed in the bottom two with

Samantha Jade Samantha Jade Gibbs (born 18 April 1987) is an Australian singer and songwriter. She has written tracks for artists including JoJo and Ashley Tisdale. In 2012, Jade won the fourth season of ''The X Factor Australia'', the first woman to win ...

after his performance of "

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

" by

Daniel Merriweather Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B recording artist. Merriweather's debut solo album, '' Love & War'', was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was preceded by two sing ...

. The performance reached number 91 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In the final showdown he sang "

Sexual Healing "Sexual Healing" is a song recorded by American singer Marvin Gaye from his seventeenth and final studio album, '' Midnight Love'' (1982). It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, followi ...

" by

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first '' Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

labelled the decision as "stupid" while Keating said he was "embarrassed" by the viewer voting. After the judges split the decision at two votes all, Willemse was eliminated in deadlock after having the lowest number of votes.

Performances on ''The X Factor''

denotes having reached the ARIA Singles Chart.
denotes having been in the bottom two.
denotes having been eliminated.

2013–2016: ''Yours''

In January 2013, Willemse embarked on the X Factor Live Tour with Samantha Jade, The Collective,

Bella Ferraro Bella Ferraro (born 1994) is an Australian singer most notable for finishing fourth on the fourth season of ''The X Factor Australia'' in 2012. Early life Ferraro was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She began singing as a child. At age ...

, Shiane Hawke and Jason Owen. They performed shows in the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. On 6 May 2013, Willemse announced on his

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page that he had signed a recording contract with

. He is the first artist signed to

' label through Sony. He released "

" on 27 September 2013, as his first single with the label. In Australia, it peaked at number four on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified two times Platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

for sales over 140,000 copies. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, "You" peaked at number 16. In November 2013, Willemse was the supporting act for

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...

's To the End of the Earth Tour. On 24 January 2014, Willemse released a cover of "

I Am Australian "I Am Australian" (or "We Are Australian") is a popular Australian song written in 1987 by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers and Dobe Newton of The Bushwackers (band), the Bushwackers. Its lyrics are filled with many historic and cultural references ...

" with

Dami Im Dami Im ( , , ; born October 17, 1988) is a South Korean-born Australian singer and songwriter. She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm, Sweden with the song " Sound of Silence", placing second and ach ...

, Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Samantha Jade and

Taylor Henderson Taylor James Henderson (born 23 March 1993) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Originating from Ceres, Victoria, Henderson rose to fame after placing third on the fourth series of '' Australia's Got Talent'' in 2010. Three years later, ...

, to coincide with the

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

celebrations. The song peaked at number 51 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Willemse's next single "

You're Beautiful "You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, ''Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005. In th ...

" was released on 28 February 2014, and debuted at number 14 on the ARIA Singles Chart. A sixth single "

Live Louder "Live Louder" is a song recorded by Australian singer-songwriter Nathaniel Willemse. It was released on 5 September 2014 as the third single from his debut studio album ''Yours (Nathaniel album), Yours''. Background A 90-second preview of "Live L ...

" was released on 5 September 2014 and peaked at number 4. It was certified Platinum by ARIA for sales exceeding 70,000 copies. Willemse returned to ''The X Factor'' on 15 September 2014 to perform the song live. In October 2014, Willemse performed at Australia's first ever neo-soul, jazz and hip-hop festival, Soulfest. In November 2014, he was the supporting act for

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

's Australian leg of her tour,

The Elusive Chanteuse Show The Elusive Chanteuse Show was the two-legged and eighth headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was launched in support of her fourteenth studio album, '' Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse'' (2014). The to ...

. In December 2014, Willemse and other Australian singers recorded a cover version of

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

's "

This Woman's Work "This Woman's Work" is a song written and performed by the British singer Kate Bush. It was originally featured on the soundtrack of the American film ''She's Having a Baby'' (1988). The song was released as the second single from her album '' ...

" under the name "Hope for Isla and Jude", and released it as a charity single to help raise funds for two siblings who suffer from the rare disease

Sanfilippo syndrome Sanfilippo syndrome, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type III (MPS III), is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease that primarily affects the brain and spinal cord. It is caused by a buildup of large sugar molecules called g ...

. Their version debuted at number 79 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Willemse's debut studio album '' Yours'' was released on 23 October 2015. On 8 December 2015, Nathaniel released a new single "

Jungle Boogie "Jungle Boogie" is a funk song recorded by Kool & the Gang for their 1973 album '' Wild and Peaceful''. It reached number four as a single, and became very popular in nightclubs. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the number 12 song for 1974, despite ther ...

", a

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

cover. It was used as the promotional song in the season two launch campaign for the Australian version of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!''. In March 2016, it was speculated that Willemse had been dropped by record company Sony Music, along with other X Factor finalists

Reigan Derry Reigan Elisse Derry (born 19 September 1988), also known mononymously as Reigan, is an Australian singer and songwriter. Derry rose to fame after placing eleventh on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'' in 2006. The following year, she beca ...

Marlisa Punzalan Marlisa Ann Punzalan (born 1 October 1999), also known simply as Marlisa, is an Australian singer. She won the sixth season of '' The X Factor Australia'' in 2014, aged 15, the youngest contestant to have won the show. Punzalan su ...

and Dean Ray. In June 2016, it was confirmed when Willemse announced he had signed a deal with 123 Agency.

2017-present: "Vapours"

In January, Nathaniel confirmed the release of a new single "Vapours" on 27 January. “This single is about being intoxicated by someone, or by an experience. My head space at the time was I just wanted something different, honest and a little rebellious. I wanted to experiment with different sounds and sonic landscapes.” From October 2017 to January 2018, Willemse starred in "Let's Get it On" a musical production celebrating the life and music of

Personal life

On 11 January 2015, Willemse married his long-time girlfriend, model Fujan Erfanian on a tropical island in Langkawi, Malaysia. The couple had been dating since before Willemse made his debut in the public eye on ''The X Factor Australia''.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Music videos

Tours

;Headlining *The X Factor Live Tour (2013) ;Supporting act *Jessica Mauboy's To the End of the Earth Tour (2013–14) *Soulfest (2014) *Mariah Carey's

: Australian leg (2014)

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - , rowspan="2",

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, rowspan="2", "You" , Pop Work of the Year , , , - , Most Played Australian Work , , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

, "You" , Song of the Year , , , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, "Live Louder" , Song of the Year , , , -

World Music Awards

The

World Music Awards The World Music Awards is an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event is based in Monte Carlo. Awards are presented to the world's ...

was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of

Albert II, Prince of Monaco Albert II – Website of the Palace of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, since 2005. Albert was born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, and he is the second child and only son of Prince Rai ...

and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event is based in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. It ran from 1989 to 2008, 2010 and 2014. ! , - , rowspan="5", 2014 , rowspan="3", Nathaniel Willemse , World's Best Male Artist , , , - , World's Best Live Act , , , - , World's Best Entertainer of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2", "You" , World's Best Song , , , - , World's Best Video , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willemse, Nathaniel South African emigrants to Australia The X Factor (Australian TV series) contestants Living people 1985 births 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian male singers Coloured South African people People from Soweto Singers from Johannesburg Singers from Melbourne People from Frankston, Victoria