Natty (born 1983) is a British singer-songwriter, born in California.
History
Born Alexander Akiloe Philip Modiano
[ in 1983 in San Francisco, California. Natty moved to London, England with his family at the age of one, where he grew up and went to school. His musical eclecticism of today reflects his "melting pot" upbringing, being mixed race and growing up in a multi-cultural cosmopolitan environment. Having started writing songs at an early age, he eventually found himself working in a London recording studio as a tea boy before working his way up to become a ]sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...
, working with acts from a variety of genres.
He decided to put a 4-piece band together and began playing at open mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...
nights before launching his own eclectic
Eclectic may refer to:
Music
* ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014
* ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996
* Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act
* Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
club night ''Vibes and Pressure''. His gigs attracted the attention of Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
.
Natty's first full single release, "July", entered the UK Singles Charts on July 27, 2008 at number 68. On August 4, 2008, Natty released his debut album, ''Man like I'', featuring songs including "Cold Town", "Badman" and "July". "July" had an official remix produced by Crazy Cousinz and co-produced by Nat Powers
Nat Powers (born Nathaniel Powers on 4 June 1986) is a British record producer and song writer from Leicester who has worked with hip-hop figures such as Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC, Spice One and with a majority of the Death Row Records ro ...
. "Badman" was a top ten billboard single in Japan. ''Man like I'' entered the UK Album Charts
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...
on August 10, 2008 at number 21. Instrumental versions of his songs ''Badman'' and ''Coloured Souls'' appeared in the Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
videogame Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09.
Performance highlights include scoring his first American tour In September 2011, opening up for reggae artist Ziggy Marley
David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley (born 17 October 1968) is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is the son of Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 2002, with whom he released eight studio albums. After ...
, and playing an unauthorised headline show in front of thousands in Khartoum, Sudan which led to performing in the U.N building (New York City) on World Humanitarian Day alongside Beyonce. Natty’s festival highlights include: Glastonbury, Boomtown, Bestival, Boardmasters, Garance Reggae Festival (France), Rototom (Spain), Sierra Nevada (California), NH7 (India), Summersonic (Japan) plus many more.
Dubbed a 'soul-reggae crossover sensation' by The Telegraph his TV/Media highlights include Performing on Later with Jools Holland, The BBC Electric Proms, C4 Music & Culture, BBC News, Sky News and a piece on his latest tour on ITV.
He is currently managed by Conscious Music Group and his Live agent is Andy Duggan of William Morris Agency.
Discography
Albums
* ''Man like I'' (4 August 2008) UK No. 21
* ''Release the Fear'' (29 February 2016)
* ''Man like I&I'' (19 October 2018)
EPs
* ''Things I've Done'' (2010)
* ''Change'' (2011)
* ''Out of Fire'' (2012)
Singles
* "Badman" (7" vinyl only – 500 copies) JPN No. 2
* "Cold Town" (7" vinyl only) UK No. 130
* "July" UK No. 53
Non album and unreleased tracks
* Officer (July single B-side)
* The King Had a Dream – January 2009
* Days of Fire – London Undersound – Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...
References
External links
MySpace
Soundcloud
Living people
People educated at Highgate School
1983 births
{{UK-musician-stub
British reggae singers