Natalie Gauci (b. 26 November 1981, Australia) is an Australian singer of Italian and Maltese descent. Gauci undertook music tuition at the Victorian College of the Arts, forming her own band in which she played gigs around Melbourne, while also working as a music teacher. After an appearance on Triple J Unearthed, she successfully auditioned for the 2007 series of Australian Idol Gauci would go on to win the series, defeating Matt Corby in the Grand Final.
Biography
Pre-Idol
Gauci studied at Emmaus College, Vermont before studying music at the Victorian College of the Arts, and from the age of 17 began writing songs.[1][2] She performed as a session musician, and began writing and producing her debut EP. Take It or Leave It was released in 2006,[3] and appeared on the Billboard World Songwriting Contest top 500 in 2007.[4] Gauci then performed in Los Angeles as part of the "Oz City Song Circle".[4]
Gauci went on to form the Natalie Gauci Band with fellow Melbourne musicians. The band played soul, pop, and jazz at local pubs, clubs, weddings, and corporate functions.[2] Gauci uploaded work from Take It or Leave It to the Triple J website, and was subsequently chosen for Unearthed, earning her some radio airplay and coverage.[2][5] To help fund her work, Gauci worked as a vocals teacher at the Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy.[6]
Australian Idol 2007
Gauci auditioned in Melbourne, Victoria and performed an original song, "Free Falling", and a rendition of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". Judges Ian Dickson and Mark Holden were impressed by Gauci's latter performance, with Dickson commenting "I think you can win this competition". However, Marcia Hines warned that such a comment had been "the kiss of death" for contestants in the past.[7] Gauci advanced to the next round, and continued to impress the judges, resulting in her selection in the top 24. Her performance of "Hurt" by Christina Aguilera did not gain enough votes to proceed to the top 12. However, she was selected by the judges to perform in the wildcard, an episode from which four contestants would be chosen to complete the top 12. Gauci performed "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone. She did not gain enough votes, but was selected by the judges to be the final top 12 member.[8]
Gauci progressed successfully through the top 12 knockout phase; it was not until the eighth week, with five contestants remaining, that she appeared in the bottom three—the three contestants with the lowest number of votes that week. Several of her performances earned acclaim; The Courier Mail noted her renditions of Rihanna's "Umbrella", Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as highlights.[9] Her performances of "Umberella", Divinyls' "Boys in Town", and Ella Fitzgerald's "How High the Moon" earned "touchdowns" from Holden.[7]
Gauci and Matt Corby were the final two members of the top 12, and thus progressed to the grand finale. At the conclusion of every series of Australian Idol, the winner releases a single dubbed the "Winner's Single". The 2007 winner's single, "Here I Am" was written by Lindy Robbins and Tom Leonard, who had previously written for The Backstreet Boys. Gauci was critical of the song when she first heard it, professing confusion as it was written with male vocals. She thus rewrote the song to be more consistent with her style of music.[10][11] On 25 November 2007, Gauci was declared the winner of Australian Idol 2007. She became the first contestant to progress to the top 12 through a lifeline from the judges to win the competition.[12]
Australian Idol Performances
Post-Idol career
2007-2008: The Winner's Journey
On 25 November 2007, Gauci released her debut single, "Here I Am" as a digital download. It was then released as a CD single on 28 November 2007,[13] which included her original B-side track, "All in My Mind".[14] It debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number two, behind "Apologize" by OneRepublic;[15] it spent only eight weeks in the top 50.[16] It was the first debut single from an Idol winner that did not reach number one in its first week. "Here I Am" sold only 7,463 copies in its first week, lower than all previous Australian Idol winners' singles.[17]
As in 2006, when Australian Idol winner Damien Leith released The Winner's Journey, Gauci released a compilation of her performances thus far.[17] Unlike Leith, the DVD released did not include stage performances, but instead an interview with John Foreman. This move drew criticism, with Fremantle Media, the producers of Australian Idol, suggesting Gauci's record label, Sony BMG, deliberately excluded the material. Sony BMG then released a second compilation, The Final Two, which featured performances by Gauci and Corby, another move that was criticised.[18] The Winner's Journey did not sell well. It peaked at number 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart,[16] and sold 11,489 copies in its first week, compared to Leith's 89,257 the previous year. Australian music website Undercover's Paul Cashmere criticised the show for its commercialism, accusing it of using Gauci as a "victim to feed the corporations and their shareholders".[19]
In January 2008 Gauci commenced her Winner's Journey tour across Australia. She took three musicians from the Natalie Gauci Band, as well as a long time keyboard collaborator and music director.[20] Gauci spent much of 2007 promoting her work. In March 2008 she returned to the studio to work on a new album, while continuing to play gigs regularly.[21] In June 2008 she went to Los Angeles to continue writing.[22]
Gauci immediately flew out of Perth on 24 January after a performance at the Burswood theatre to perform at the final night of the Malta Song for Europe festival on 26 January. After the deal was finalised Natalie told timesofmalta.com, 'this is such fantastic news. I can't wait to be there.' Gauci met briefly with the Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech who hailed Gauci's success and said she has made Malta and Maltese-Australian's proud.[23] Gauci sung Here I Am and the b-side to the single, All In My Mind. She also performed a duet with Chiara of the song 'Angel'. The two received a standing ovation afterwards and the host claimed "you had us all in tears".[24]
In a blog featured on her website Gauci discussed her upcoming second album. "I went into the studio yesterday and started jamming my original songs in preparation for my new Single/Album... I have the opportunity to write and record with some amazing producers so I'm not going to hurry a process that could develop into some crazy music for you all to hear."[25]
Discography
Albums
EPs
| Statistics |
Take It or Leave It
- Released: April 2006
- Scored in the top 500 in the 2007 Billboard World Songwriting Contest.[27]
|
Singles
References
External links
|
Natalie Gauci |
|
| Studio albums |
|
|
| Singles |
|
|
| Related articles |
|
|
|
Australian Idol |
|
| Seasons |
|
|
| Hosts |
|
|
| Judges |
|
|
| Winners |
|
|
| Winner's Singles |
|
|
| Runners-up |
|
|
| Notable alumni |
|
|
| Other personalities |
|
|
| Related articles |
|
|
|
