Natalie Gelman (born July 17, 1985) is an American folk-pop singer and songwriter. Gelman is mainly known for her strong vocals, and has released four albums. She regularly tours

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and other parts of the United States, performing at various venues and festivals. She has opened for

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

and played at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Early life

Gelman was born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Her parents are both musicians: father a

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

and her mother a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. Gelman would often try to get attention by singing along to Disney films, and performing for her parents and three siblings at dinner. They both encouraged her musical aspirations with classical training. She wrote her first song when she was 11 years old, and picked up the guitar in high school. She attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and ultimately ended her education by graduating from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in 2006 with a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

Musical career

She started seriously performing at the age of 17, eventually

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

platforms. In 2006, after the release of her self-titled album, she started a tour from

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

rollerblade Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Giavera del Montello, Treviso, Italy. The company was started by Scott Olson (b. 1960), Brennan Olson (b. 1964) and Christopher Middlebrook in Minneapolis a ...

s to promote the album and support

Children International Children International is a global nonprofit humanitarian organization that helps children break the cycle of poverty. It addresses children’s critical needs through early intervention and regular interaction in community centers. The goal is t ...

. The trip took 48 days. After multiple attempts, she was ultimately accepted into the MTA's

Music Under New York Music Under New York (MUNY) is a part of the Arts & Design program by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that schedules musical performances in transportation hubs across its rapid transit, ferry, and commuter rail systems. MTA gr ...

program. She released her first self-titled LP in 2006. Her second album, an EP, produced by

Charlie Midnight Charlie Midnight (born Charles Kaufman, 1954) is an American songwriter, record producer, and founder of Midnight Production House. He has been nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (Writer, " Living in America" by James Brown), ...

and

Mark Needham Mark Needham is an American music engineer, mixer and producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music, including: Blue October, Newsboys, Fleetwood Mac, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Chris Isaak, John Hiatt, Michelle Branch, P!nk, ...

, was released in 2013. The music video for the song "Most the While" was selected for the 2014

New Media Film Festival New Media Film Festival is an event held annually that celebrates "the interactivity of new technologies and formats for Media and Cinema with global consciousness". According to the organizers, the festival honors "Stories Worth Telling that are c ...

. Gelman began a month-long tour with

Alyse Black Alyse Black is an American singer and songwriter. Black's music is described as indie pop with jazz influences, in the vein of artists such as Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor and Norah Jones. Her song "Stood for Stand for", which was featured on Bla ...

on July 16, 2014 through

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. On July 17, 2014 she started a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign to fund a full-length LP. On February 28, 2017 Natalie was chosen to open for

at the

Golden 1 Center Golden 1 Center is an indoor arena, located in downtown Sacramento, California, United States. It sits partially on the site of the former Downtown Plaza shopping center. The publicly owned arena is part of a business and entertainment district ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

as part of his

This House Is Not for Sale Tour The This House Is Not for Sale Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Bon Jovi in support of their album '' This House Is Not for Sale''. The tour marked the first time of Phil X and Hugh McDonald as official members of the band. Backgr ...

. In 2020, she was selected to play at the Folk Alliance International in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Personal life

Though she has lived a significant amount of time in New York, Gelman settled in

Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

in 2012. There she met Brent Florence, and after a courtship, they were married on October 14, 2016.

Discography

''Natalie Gelman''

''Streetlamp Musician''

Gelman's second album was released in 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelman, Natalie 1985 births 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers American women singer-songwriters Philanthropists from New York (state) American pop guitarists Living people Singers from New York City University of Miami Frost School of Music alumni 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Guitarists from New York City 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state)