Nataly Dawn | |
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Nataly Dawn (with Pomplamoose)
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Background information | |
Born |
Sacramento, California, United States |
October 29, 1986
Genres | Pop, pop-rock, blues rock, blue eyed soul, vocal jazz, Indie pop, indie folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, percussion |
Years active | 2008–present |
Labels | Nonesuch Records |
Associated acts | Pomplamoose, Jack Conte, Julia Nunes, Lauren O'Connell, Ryan Lerman |
Website | natalydawnmusic |
Natalie Knutsen, who goes by the stage name Nataly Dawn (born October 29, 1986), is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She is one half of the duo Pomplamoose with her husband Jack Conte and released her first solo album, How I Knew Her, on Nonesuch Records on February 12, 2013.
The daughter of missionaries, Dawn spent much of her childhood in Europe, where she attended schools in France and Belgium before returning to the United States to study art and French literature at Stanford University.
At Stanford, Dawn met Jack Conte and formed Pomplamoose, eventually performing, recording, and editing songs and videos entirely on their own in their Northern California home. Their first upload to YouTube was an original collaboration, "Hail Mary", which was featured on the YouTube homepage. In 2010, the duo began releasing cover versions of pop songs like Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and Lady Gaga's "Telephone".
In 2009, Dawn self-released on iTunes her first solo collection, (Her Earlier Stuff), comprising twelve songs that had been posted to her YouTube channel over the preceding two years.
In 2010, in collaboration with Lauren O'Connell, Dawn formed the side project group My Terrible Friend. In May 2011, it was announced that she would be joining Barry Manilow on his new album, entitled Fifteen Minutes, singing the song "Letter From a Fan".
On July 17, 2011, Dawn announced that she would be releasing a new solo album. She started a funding campaign on Kickstarter, where the initial goal of $20,000 was reached in just three days. On September 6, 2011, the album funding campaign came to a close with 2,315 people donating a grand total of $104,788, more than five times the original goal of $20,000.
In August 2012, Nataly Dawn signed as a solo artist with Nonesuch Records, which released her Kickstarter-funded first solo album, How I Knew Her, on February 12, 2013. The album, which has twelve songs written by Dawn, was produced by Jack Conte and recorded at Prairie Sun Recording Studios in Cotati, California, in December 2011 with a full band that included Conte, Ryan Lerman, David Piltch, Louis Cole and Matt Chamberlain. Oz Fritz engineered the album with Conte; it was mixed by Mike Mogis and mastered by Bob Ludwig.