Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing career with her chart-topping cover of Ednaswap’s song “Torn”. Her debut album, Left of the Middle (1997), sold seven million copies worldwide. Imbruglia’s five subsequent albums have combined sales of three million copies worldwide, and her accolades include eight ARIA Awards, two Brit Awards, one Billboard Music Award, and three Grammy nominations.

Imbruglia has appeared in several films, including the 2003 release Johnny English and the 2009 Australian indie film Closed for Winter. She has modelled for several brands, such as L’Oreal, Gap, and Kailis. Amongst other philanthropic work, Imbruglia served as a longtime spokesperson for Virgin Unite and campaigns to raise awareness of obstetric fistula.

On 16 June 2021, Imbruglia announced on her official Twitter page that her single “Build It Better” would be released on 18 June 2021. It serves as the first single from her sixth studio album Firebird, which was released on 24 September 2021. This album represents a return to music after a six-year hiatus during which she says she experienced “writer’s block”. She also won the third series of The Masked Singer UK as “Panda”.

Imbruglia was born on 4 February 1975, in Sydney, Australia, second of four daughters of Maxene (née Anderson) and Elliot Imbruglia. Her father is of Italian descent, a Sicilian from Lipari who immigrated to Australia with his family aged five, and her mother is of Irish, Scottish and English descent, with an ancestor who arrived in Australia as a convict in the First Fleet. Imbruglia grew up in Berkeley Vale, New South Wales and attended Mater Dei College. At fifteen, she moved to Sydney with her family and studied ballet, tap and Highland dancing.

Imbruglia appeared in Australian television commercials for Coca-Cola and the Australian snack Twisties. She left school at the age of sixteen, to pursue acting. She secured a role as Beth Brennan on the Australian soap opera Neighbours where she shared a house with Ben Mitchell who played the part of Cameron Hudson. By the end of her second year, she left the show to move to London in 1994. She met Anne Barret, who became her manager and convinced her to record a demo of four songs. She signed a record deal with BMG, after a demo of “Torn” impressed RCA Records.

Imbruglia’s first international single, “Torn”, was a cover of an Ednaswap song. It reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1997, number one on airplay around the world and number one on the Billboard Airplay chart for 14 weeks. It sold more than one million copies in the United Kingdom alone. As of 2011, “Torn” was the most played song on Australian radio since 1990, played 300,500 times since 1997, an average of 75 a day, based on data compiled by the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA).

It was released as a radio single in the US, but not on CD. The single was on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart for 14 weeks. At the time, singles not released commercially could not be on the overall Hot 100 chart (combined sales and airplay). By the time the policy changed, “Torn” was heading down the charts, so its peak on the Hot 100 ended at 42. The single also topped the Top 40 Mainstream/CHR Pop and Adult Top 40 charts. In October 1997, it broke the airplay record in the UK (more than 2000 plays) for six weeks. It was No. 1 for 14 weeks in the UK radio chart, equalled only by Simply Red’s “Fairground”. Rick Dees, in his Top 40 Chart show, named “Torn” as the ‘number one radio single of 1990s’ in the 2000 Millennium Countdown show broadcast from KIIS-FM on New Year’s Eve.

Imbruglia appeared with David Armand midway through his ‘interpretative dance’ to sing Torn at Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Ball (2006). Imbruglia’s debut album Left of the Middle was released on 24 November 1997. It sold 350,000 in the UK three weeks after release and was certified platinum. It has sold 7 million copies. The second single in the UK after “Torn” was “Big Mistake”, which debuted at #2. “Wishing I Was There” was less successful, peaking at #19. “Wishing I Was There” only peaked at #2 on UK radio in summer 1998, and in the US peaked at #14 on the Top 40 Show. The final single from Left of the Middle was “Smoke”, the reception was more divided than previously. It was a hit in the UK and made the top 5, while in Australia it missed the top 40. Eventually, the album became a million-seller after charting well in many countries and entering the Top 10 in the US and UK. In 1999, she recorded a cover of “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS with Tom Jones, which appeared on his album Reload.