Born Natalie Ann Merchant, on October 26, 1963, in Jamestown, NY; daughter of Anthony and Ann Merchant.

A celebrated pop performer over two decades, Natalie Merchant began her career as the lead singer for the band 10,000 Maniacs, then branched out into a solo career focused on messages of politics and women's issues. Merchant attempted to blend her own style of social consciousness and spirituality into music that encompassed folk-pop and moody ballads.

The daughter of Anthony and Ann, Natalie Ann Merchant was born the third of four children on October 26, 1963, in Jamestown, New York. In an interview with Drew DeSilver in Vegetarian Times, Merchant said, "When I was growing up, the town was the center of the universe, like home towns always are when you're a kid. In 1974, we won an 'All-America City' award, and it made everybody in school feel proud."

However, Merchant's childhood didn't resonate with the perfect harmony of a child at the center of the universe. At the age of seven, her parents divorced. Around that same time, she realized that her hometown suffered the same difficulties as other cities. She watched many people lose their jobs as companies shut down or moved elsewhere. She found isolation in an already isolated community. Merchant wrote a song called "Maddox Table," on the 10,000 Maniacs album The Wishing Chair, which was about the events she saw taking place in the furniture-making capital of Jamestown. "I met an old man who used to work at Maddox Tables," she told DeSilver in Vegetarian Times. "I told him I'd written a song about the company, and I gave him a copy of the record. I never thought I'd meet someone like the person in the song."

After her parents divorce, Merchant primarily lived with her mother. She found a group of friends she felt she could communicate with when her mother remarried and moved the family to a commune in upstate New York. "I fell in love with those people!" Merchant told Nisid Hajari in Entertainment Weekly. "They were artists. They were ladies that didn't shave their legs. They lived alone and fed the wood stove in the winter, and they were strong."

At the age of 16, Merchant made several changes to her life, one of which was deciding to become a vegetarian. She discovered new worlds of nutrition, diet, ecology, and medicine, which had been around for centuries. Although Merchant was proud of her decision, her family did not share her joy. They continued to prepare meat dishes at home, and forced her to eat around the meat. Her vegetarian ideas were not completely dismissed, however. Her stepmother later became a vegetarian and her father cut down on eating meat due to a heart condition.

Committed to Maniacal Music Style

Merchant consistently made life decisions in the blink of the eye, and once she made up her mind, nothing could stop her. One such decision was when she decided to quit high school and go straight to college. While there, she pursued an associate's degree and worked odd jobs. Merchant's career in music began almost purely out of circumstance. In 1980, she met keyboardist Dennis Drew and bassist Steve Gustafson, who worked as disc jockeys at her college radio station. Early the following year, Drew and Gustafson enlisted guitarist Robert Buck to form a band called Still Life. In need of a singer, her friends asked her to join them, as well. After they added guitarist John Lombardo, the group changed their name to 10,000 Maniacs.

Merchant told People, "The first five times I went to see 10,000 Maniacs [in 1981], I wasn't in the band. But they saw me sitting there and said, 'C'mon up and sing.' So I did that for the next five shows. They kept luring me up onstage, and I kind of liked it. It was pretty exciting, and Jamestown as a whole was pretty boring."

The 10,000 Maniacs differed quite a bit from the other bands playing around town. While these other bands were doing cover tunes of top 40 bands, the 10,000 Maniacs were doing covers of alternative bands from Europe, like Joy Division, and Reggae groups, such as The Mighty Diamonds. College disc jockeys started giving the band their copies of import records, which they eagerly incorporated into their playlist. Soon, the band started writing their own material: peppy, pop-folk songs flavored with bluegrass and Italian folk music.

In 1983, the band released its first album, Secrets of the I-Ching. Their subsequent albums gained popularity, and the 10,000 Maniacs became a success. By 1989, the feel-good vibe of the band began to fade. The release of their fourth album, Blind Man's Zoo, did not fair well with many critics because of its "stiff-collared preachiness." The band even stopped playing cuts off the album in concert as a result of low responses from their audiences.

Embarked on Flowering Solo Career

In 1993, after 12 years with 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant decided to leave the band and pursue a solo career. Two years later, she released her solo debut, Tiger Lily, which entered the Billboard album chart at number. 13 just two weeks after its release, and eventually went triple-platinum. With the help of 10,000 Maniacs producer, Paul Fox, Merchant wrote and recorded the 11 tracks on Tiger Lily in only five months. During that time, she refused to let record company executives hear any of the music until the album was mixed.

"A lot of people at the [Elektra Records] company really had preconceived notions of what my solo record should sound like, and I didn't even want to hear them," she later told Entertainment Weekly. Merchant claims that she initially financed studio time with a loan, then Elektra Records paid her back. According to some reviews, Tiger Lily explored a sadness between poignant and maudlin, depending on the listener's point of view.

The song "River," which appeared on the album, was a tribute to the late actor River Phoenix, who she had a brief friendship with and spoke to mostly by phone. "I feel I am most successful as a songwriter when I just look at the people and tell their stories," Merchant explained to Jeremy Helligar in People. "I didn't know River Phoenix that well, but his death struck me powerfully. I thought, 'There's someone who was a kindred spirit. Somebody whom I always wanted to spend time with but never got to.' The few times we spent together, he inspired me to push out boundaries. He had such a vibrant personality. I felt cheated when he died."

Explored the Dark Side

In May of 1998, Merchant released her next album, Ophelia, which explored the seasons, angst, and joys of a woman's life. Right after its release, it debuted at number eight on the Billboard album charts. Ophelia presented full orchestral arrangements, layered vocal harmonies, keyboards, horns, and guest performances by more than 30 musicians. Merchant's lyrical inspiration on Ophelia returned to Shakespeare's doomed Hamlet heroin with traces of "the heart is a lonely hunter" theme. In addition to releasing the album, Merchant collaborated with directors Mark Seliger and Fred Woodward to produce a companion 23-minute video of the same name. In the video, Merchant played the roles of seven different characters (complete with dubbed-in Italian and Swedish accents) ranging from a Depression-era suffragette to a Mob moll.

In 1998, Merchant co-headlined the Lilith Fair summer festival with fellow pop singer Sarah McLachlan. Away from the studio and off the road, Merchant spent much of her time as a liberal activist, which earned her many accolades and a reputation as a media crusader. Merchant returned to her hometown in 1998 for a special appearance with 300 children at the Jamestown Boys and Girls Club. That same year, she donated $30,000 to the "Way to Go" program at the club, and another $15,000 each to the YMCA and the YWCA. The programs earmarked Merchant's donations to help prevent teen pregnancies. Natalie Merchant also took high-profile stands on such issues as commercial logging, animal rights, and abortion, but refrained from using her music as a vehicle for her activism. She insisted that the inspiration for her songs would continue to come from her personal experiences, memories, and observations. "I write songs about the things that are important to me," she told Andy Steiner in Utne Reader. "I guess you find whatever you can in your own experience that will be meaningful to other people."

by Sonya Shelton

Natalie Merchant's Career

Joined 10,000 Maniacs, 1981; signed contract with Elektra Records, 1985; released eight albums, 1981-1994; left 10,000 Maniacs to pursue a solo career, 1993; released debut solo album, Tigerlily, Elektra Records, 1995; released Ophelia, Elektra Records, 1998.

Famous Works

Further Reading

Sources

PeriodicalsOnline

Visitor Comments Add a comment…