b. 26 November 1981, Sussex, England. The sister of bestselling recording artist Daniel Bedingfield enjoyed commercial success of her own during summer 2004, with a UK number 1 hit single and album. Bedingfield launched her recording career while still sharing a house with Daniel in Lewisham, London, close to where the siblings grew up with their New Zealand-born parents. Natasha learned to play guitar and piano while still at school and performed at talent shows with Daniel and her younger sister Nikola. She later enrolled on a psychology course at Greenwich University but quit studies after a year to devote her time fully to making a career in music. Her demo tape came to the attention of the BMG conglomerate and she was signed to the Arista Records imprint in 2003. She decamped to Los Angeles, California, where she worked on her debut album with producers Andy Frampton and Steve Kipner and a number of leading songwriters, including Kara DioGuardi, Paul Herman, Patrick Leonard and Robbie Williams’ former writing partner, Guy Chambers.
Bedingfield’s family association with Daniel helped boost interest in her debut release, the feisty R&B number ‘Single’, which debuted at number 3 in the UK charts in May 2004. ‘Single’ largely lived up to the usual record company hype and introduced Bedingfield as a home-grown rival to the ranks of US female artists concurrently enjoying success in the UK market. The follow-up, ‘These Words’, was a superior song and deservedly reached the number 1 slot in August, a feat repeated by Bedingfield’s debut Unwritten the following month. The album covered a wide range of bases in its attempt to establish Bedingfield as a long-term prospect, drawing on urban R&B (the first two singles), rap (‘Drop Me In The Middle’), electro (‘I’m A Bomb’), and rock (‘If You’re Gonna …’). The title track later reached the US Top 5 and helped boost sales of her album in North America.
Bedingfield’s second album, N.B. , was recorded in Los Angeles. Aiming for the same urban-lite territory as her debut, the album’s distinct lack of memorable tunes hampered its commercial impact. Released in spring 2007 in Europe, the album was extensively changed for the North American market, retaining only six songs from the original tracklisting and adding seven new tracks. It was released at the start of 2008 with a new title, Pocketful Of Sunshine.
