Natalie Imbruglia feels fortunate she had such “respectful” people around early in her music career.
The Torn hitmaker, who first broke out as an actress in Australian soap opera Neighbours, has reflected on the time she left the UK after some visa issues, and turned her attention towards a potential music career.
She told The Big Issue magazine: “When I was songwriting, I met a woman called Anne Barrett, who became my manager.
“She took me around to all these songwriters and really nurtured me at the start of my career and eventually got me some meetings where I got signed.
“But I really didn’t know what I was doing. I think I knew how to sing, and I had boundaries of what I would and wouldn’t do, because some of the songs were covers, but I was keen to learn.”
The AGE-year-old star feels “lucky” that she was able paired up with producer Phil Thornalley.
She added: “[He’s someone] I absolutely adore, who nurtured those skill sets in me and taught me a lot about vocal production and songwriting.
“I’m very lucky that I had someone that wasn’t exploitative.
“I’ve heard a lot of people have bad experiences, but mine was with someone that was respectful and celebrated me, my artistry, and was helping me to learn and grow.”
Natalie admitted she was worried “people were going to throw tomatoes” when she made the move into music, after plenty of people tried a similar transition from Neighbours to different degrees of success.
She explained: “It wasn’t necessarily a sure thing. If anything, if it went wrong, it could have been the end of my career.
“So I was nervous, but I had a kind of fighting spirit. Then Torn broke in America on K-Rock, and I followed that song around the world.
“[Having a worldwide hit] was amazing and terrifying all at once. Suddenly everyone is looking, almost everyone had an expectation of you.
“So it was a lot of pressure, but it also changed my life.”