Macy Gray

Macy Gray
Gray performs in Memphis, April 2011
Background information
Birth name	Natalie Renée McIntyre
Born	(1967-09-06) September 6, 1967 (age 49) Canton, Ohio, United States
Genres	R&B soul jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter record producer actress
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Atlantic (1995–96) NuTech Digital Epic (1998–2004) will.i.am / Geffen (2006–08) Concord (2009–11) 429 (2011–2016) Chesky Records (2016)
Associated acts	Bobby Brown Natalie Cole Velvet Revolver Pharoahe Monch Black Eyed Peas Norman Cook
Website	macygray.com

will.i.am / Geffen (2006–08)

Macy Gray (born Natalie Renée McIntyre; September 6, 1967) is an American R&B, jazz and soul singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress, known for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.

Gray has released six studio albums, and received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one. She has appeared in a number of films, including Training Day, Spider-Man, Scary Movie 3, Lackawanna Blues, Idlewild and For Colored Girls. Gray is best known for her international hit single "I Try", taken from her multi-platinum debut album On How Life Is.

In 2016, Gray made a large artistic leap by changing labels to record an album produced with binaural sound. Stripped (Chesky Records, 2016) marked the singer's first steps into the world of audiophile recordings.

Natalie McIntyre was born in Canton, Ohio, the daughter of Laura McIntyre, a math schoolteacher, and Otis Jones who left when she was a baby. Her stepfather was a steelworker, and she has a sister who would become a biology teacher. She began piano lessons at age seven. A childhood bicycle mishap resulted in her noticing a mailbox of a man named Macy Gray; she used the name in stories she wrote and later decided to use it has her stage name.