Natalie Williams

Her early influences included singers Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Aretha Franklin, and these legends inspired Natalie to pursue a career in singing. In 1997 she decided to take her passion further by moving to London to study at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama, becoming the first person to study both classical and jazz singing on the undergraduate course.

Natalie has toured extensively throughout the world, performing at an array of renowned festivals, including opening the recent 2009 London Jazz Festival as a featured soloist alongside Kurt Elling and Sheila Jordan with Guy Barker's "Jazz Voice" at the Barbican Centre. Other memorable appearances include Glastonbury Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Abu Dhabi Jazz Festival, Kaunas Jazz festival in Lithuania and the Kathmandu Jazz Festival "Jazzmandu". She has appeared as a featured artist with The Heritage Orchestra, Goldie and Bugz In The Attic and alongside Amy Winehouse, Shlomo, John Legend, Lemar, Alison Moyet, Jamie Cullum, Babyface, the Neville Brothers and recently with Manu Katché on his French TV show "One Shot Not" on Arte.

Signed to independent label "Eastside Records", she has recorded 3 albums "Yours Truly", "Lucky Old Sun" and "Secret Garden", and is set to release her 4th album "My Oh My" in June 2010. All of these have been met with critical acclaim, including underground classic singles, 'Butterfly' and 'This Girl' which was A-listed at BBC Radio 2 and also won her "best video" at the 2007 Urban Music Awards. "Secret Garden" to date has achieved 80,000 downloads, 14 weeks featured on iTunes and number 1 in the We7 album, soul and RnB charts for 6 weeks in early 2008.

Natalie's obvious talent and tenacity are gathering well-deserved attention, so expect much more to come from a lady who is proving to be a more than just a "Lil' Wiser".