T i g e r l i l y

Recording Tigerlily:       Natalie: "The actual songwriting part of this venture didn't take that long - six to eight months. And I wanted to put out a record as quickly as I could so there wouldn't be a big lapse of time between 10,000 Maniacs and this record. And even though there were a lot of things I wanted to experiment with, the first thing I wanted to do was make a pop record all by myself, where I had the opportunity to write all the songs myself.".       Before starting on her first solo album, Merchant took six months off and worked anonymously in a day-care center for homeless families.       Tigerlily was released June 20, 1995 worldwide and has sold more than 3,500,000. Concert dates with Sting were leading the charge of renewed exposure for Merchant in the U.K. and continental Europe; she would open shows for the artist in March and April in Holland, Belgium, France and Spain. Solo dates in the European tour were set for Germany and England.       "I think the people who attend the Sting shows are the type of people who would be open to her kind of music," says Jo Ann Kaeding, senior director of international marketing for Elektra Entertainment Group. "We couldn't ask for a nicer coupling. It will be a great night out for people and a real opportunity for her to gain some fans from like-minded people."

Tigerlily Band: In 1995, Natalie gathered a group to work on her new songs: recording the album and touring for its promotion. After touring, the group was dissolved. It was formed by: Jennifer Turner: talented New Jersey guitarist of the former (and unknown) band Marmalade. Now, Jenny got her own band, the trio Furslide and already signed with Virgin in October . Peter Yanowitz: drummer; Pete was the first person who met Nat (still in 10kManiacs), when his former band, Wallflowers, opened some concerts for the Maniacs in the Our Time in Eden Tour. As Nat left the 10kM, new musical projects appeared between Nat and Pete which led to Tigerlily. Rumors of a date between Nat and Pete appeared since Tigerlily Tour. Barrie Maguire: bassist; he participated in the album recording and the tour for a few months. He left the group and was replaced by Fima Ephron, who also stayed for a brief time. Jason Yates: still working with Natalie. He plays the keyboards and piano (along with Nat).   Videos: Two of the three videos of Natalie Merchant were released in Brazil: Carnival e Jealousy. It seems the second clip, Wonder, wasn't released on the brazilian TV screens (it reads MTV). Still, none of them got on the charts of TV or radio, except Carnival, on radio, for a brief period of time. Carnival Recording Carnival video at Central park, N.Y. Directed by well-known Melody McDaniel (who also directed Cranberries' Linger) has locations in Central Park. According Nat, the video means what lyrics say: "I walked these streets, in a carnival of sights to see" The other clip, Jealousy, was directed by Lee Ann Stonebreaker. Though few people may know the clip in Brazil, it was the most played over MTV (at "Non Stop" program). For the first time, we also see the group members - who were incognito till this video. Ironically, the video Wonder, unknown by most brazilians as it was never played here, is Nat's most famous video cos it was directed by the awarded director Jake Scott, (Tony Scott's son - director of Top Gun, and nephew of Ridley Scott - Blade Runner). He also directed awarded R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts", Live, among others. For some luck brazilians guys, enhanced Wonder CD has a .mov file of the video. Natalie opened a concert for REM in Austin on 09/18/95. Stipe dedicates to Nat the song "Losing my Religion". (Read about this concert HERE). Another connection with Nat and R.E.M. was the Direct Effect project. Nat direct a film which was included in the 10kM's Time Capsule movie.