Natalie Merchant

Mark Seliger
Mark Seliger
Mark Seliger
Mark Seliger
Marion Ettlinger

News

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Natalie Merchant to Perform in New Yorkers Against Fracking Concert on May 15 Hosted by Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo

Natalie Merchant and a group of fellow New York–based artists will participate in a rally and concert event in Albany on Tuesday, May 15, regarding the dangers of hydraulic fracturing and to call on Governor Cuomo to ban the controversial natural gas drilling process in New York State. Also participating are Medeski Martin & Wood, Citizen Cope, The Felice Brothers, Joan Osborne, Tracy Bonham, Toshi Reagon, Dan Zanes, Ida, The Horse Flies, and The Ahkwesasne Women Singers. Actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo will host. The rally will take place on The West Capitol Lawn, followed by the concert at The Egg.
Friday, November 4, 2011

Natalie Merchant's "Leave Your Sleep" to Be Basis of 92Y Musical Program for NYC Public School Children

Natalie Merchant's 2010 Nonesuch debut album, Leave Your Sleep, will be the basis for a curriculum unit taught to 3,500 New York City public school children in grades K-3 this fall. On the album, Merchant adapts the works of such poets as Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Robert Graves into a musically kaleidoscopic set of new songs. She joins the Nashville Symphony in concert on November 13 and joins Levon Helm and others on November 18 in upstate New York for a concert to benefit those hit by Tropical Storm Irene.

Read More News About Natalie Merchant

About Natalie Merchant

Over her 28-year career Natalie Merchant has earned a place among America’s most respected recording artists with a reputation for being a songwriter of quality and a captivating performer.

Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs and released two platinum and four gold records with the group between 1981 and 1993 (The Wishing Chair, In My Tribe, Blind Man's Zoo, Hope Chest, Our Time in Eden, and MTV Unplugged).

In 1994, Merchant began her solo career with a self-produced debut album, Tigerlily (1995), which astounded the music industry by selling four million copies. In the years following, she released Ophelia (1998), Natalie Merchant Live (1999), and Motherland (2001). In 2003, she left Elektra Records, after 18 years with the label, and independently released an album of traditional and contemporary folk music, The House Carpenter’s Daughter, on her own label, Myth America Records. In 2005, she was persuaded to curate a collection of her own work for a double album she titled Retrospective.

She has collaborated both on stage and in the studio with a wide range of artists, including REM, Wynton Marsalis, The Chieftains, Mavis Staples, Daniel Lanois, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, David Byrne, Philip Glass, Billy Bragg, Wilco, Tracy Chapman, Cowboy Junkies, Ryan Adams, Lokua Kanza, Yungchen Lhamo, The Fairfield Four, Gavin Bryars, Jakob Dylan, Susan McKeown, Chris Botti, Lúnasa, The Klezmatics, Katell Keineg, Dan Zanes, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

Throughout her entire career, Merchant has also been dedicated to supporting a wide array of non-profit organizations lending both financial support and raising public awareness. Scenic Hudson, The Center for Constitutional Rights, Riverkeeper, Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, The Association to Benefit Children, Planned Parenthood, and The Southern Center for Human Rights are among the social justice groups to which she has been devoted. She was recently appointed by the governor of New York to serve a five-year term as a member of the prestigious New York State Council on the Arts.

After the birth of her daughter in 2003, Merchant took an extended break from recording and touring. For the past six years, Merchant has been researching, writing and recording a collection of songs adapted from the works of various classic and contemporary poets. This project, entitled Leave Your Sleep, is her first studio album in seven years and is due for release in April 2010 on Nonesuch Records.

Latest Release

Leave Your Sleep
April 13, 2010
For her first studio recording in seven years, Natalie Merchant offers the most ambitious project of her celebrated, 25-year major-label career. She brilliantly adapts the works of such poets as Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Robert Graves into a musically kaleidoscopic, two-disc set of new songs, working with folk, jazz, reggae, and R&B players as well as gorgeously arranged chamber ensembles.
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