Natural (band)

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Natural
German "Keep it Natural" cover
Background information
Origin	Orlando, Florida, United States
Genre(s)	Pop
Years active	1999–2004
Label(s)	Sony BMG, Transcontinental

Natural was a US American boyband who were best known for their debut single "Put your arms around me". They were very successful in Germany releasing 2 albums and several singles.

1 History
- 1.1 Split
- 1.2 Aftermath
2 Trivia
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] History

The original band was formed in 1999 when future members Marc Terenzi and Patrick King met at a party. Marc Terenzi had a friend Ben Bledsoe, and Patrick had a friend Michael Johnson. The four got together and after subsequent members joined and lost, settled on fifth member Michael 'J' Horn. The five young men tried to get signed on their own but ended up being turned down by most major labels. The press release story goes they had rented out Transcon's rehearsal space and Lou Big Poppa Pearlman (now sued for major fraud) caught sight of their act and wanted to sign them immediately.

After that he flew them out to Germany where they had first success among the local girls' hearts in a once aired special reality show. Convinced they could be the new 'N Sync, Pearlman brought them back to the United States.

Lou had decided just being singing, dancing, and being cute wouldn't be enough in these new times so he decided each member should play an instrument as well; despite their abilities still not letting them write their own songs. Ben Bledsoe was the average guy one who played bass and was one of the lead vocals, Marc Terenzi was the flirt who played guitar and was one of the lead vocals, Michael 'J' Horn was the 'mature one' who played piano and was the final lead vocal, Patrick King was the non threatening one who also played guitar, and Michael Johnson was 'the bad boy' who played the drums.

Most of the men had already had prior training in vocals but the dancing and instrument playing was another story. Some of them were trained in dance but not an instrument and some of them were trained in an instrument and not dance. However they worked hard and by the time of their debut they were all able to do both.

In the summer of 2000 Pearlman hired the Genie in a Bottle writer for Natural's first single 'Put your arms around me'. He also struck a deal with teenage accessories store Claire's. The teenybopper store would sell the single as an extra with a $12 or more purchase. A mall tour in conjunction with Claire's followed. However something was lost because the single never actually charted on Billboard's Top 100.

Lou decided a US release just would not be any good and rushed the band back to Germany where their first album Keep it Natural was released. 'Keep it Natural' was the typical boy band pop of the day and Lou stuck to his rules: his boys would not be writing on the album. Of the 13 tracks 3 were covers, and only one track 'Paradise' was written by the guys.

The single and the album did quite well and tours followed. Much of their success and work was in Germany (including a second album, Its only Natural which was more rock and for the most part was actually written by the band members themselves) until the summer of 2004 when problems started rising. Recent singles such as 'Let me just fly' had charted in the low 20s and weren't doing as well as Pearlman had hoped. The tour to support Its only Natural was delayed until July 2004 it was announced the tour would go on; however it would be the band's last - and minus Michael 'J' Horn.

[edit] Split

Rumors were rife with why the band was splitting. Marc Terenzi had met German Popstar Sarah Connor in the summer of 2003 and against Pearlman's wishes had kept dating her.

Outside of the Marc controversy the members were beginning to grow tired of Lou's rules. Not only did Lou suppress their writing abilities; he forced them to completely lip sync on shows and worse yet on most of the shows on the final tour. The boys who could sing and play instruments weren't allowed to do either just supposed to pretend they were. Michael Johnson (Drummer) later said that they had made the most of it. He couldn't play guitar but in some of the shows he would pretend he could. Most fans however did not get the joke.

Lou's other rules were also just as disheartening. For his boybands no member was allowed to get a piercing or tattoo, grow facial hair, and worst of all have a public girlfriend. The guys of course didn't always obey especially Michael Johnson (Drummer) and of course Marc Terenzi.

In June 2004 it was announced Sarah Connor was pregnant and the couple was engaged. Pearlman didn't like this and wanted Marc Terenzi kicked out and replaced. Marc Terenzi was a founding member and the other members were not about to fall for it, so they decided to split - except for Patrick King.

[edit] Aftermath

In November of 2004 it was announced Lou Pearlman was going to keep on with the 'Natural idea' at least in name. Instead of boy banding them he had original member Patrick King and four new members who now were going to be doing 'fake punk' music instead of pop. This did not sit well with many fans of the original band.

A year and a half passed and the 'New Natural' had failed to even match the poor success of the later original Natural years. Many natives of the Orlando music scene stayed away from shows upon hearing the boy band tinged name. In early 2006 Lou's pets renamed themselves 'Well Worn Zero' and the name 'Natural' was retired.

However once 'Well Worn Zero' was dropped by Transcon Lou decided he wasn't done with the 'Natural' name. In the July/August 2006 issue of 'Orlando Style' magazine the 2am girls made the following statement about Lou's bands quote: ...and some super cute members of the British boys who are new additions to the rock group, Natural.

It seems there's nothing on the web about the 3rd version of Natural or what plans Lou has for them.

Ben Bledsoe started a solo career in 2005 and released his own indie solo CD Insomniac's guide to a lonely heart which he wrote much of the music and lyrics to. He currently is planning a tour of the US college scene and performing various shows around Orlando and Florida. He also has started is own record label and publishing company '44th floor Records'.

Marc Terenzi married Sarah Connor in March of 2005 shortly after the birth of their son Tyler. The family stared in their own reality show Sarah and Marc in Love^[1] that summer and shortly after he released his own CD Awesome which was again mostly written by himself. The singles Heat between the sheets and Love to be loved by you both did very well in the German charts, reaching the top 10. He recently became a father for the second time.

Michael 'J' Horn married his girlfriend Olivia and both reside in Winter Park, Florida. Horn currently teaches music, attends college, works for the Orlando Ballet, and performs in many plays and musicals.

Patrick King was last known to still be in the 2nd version of Natural. In 2006 after a year and a half keeping the name 'Natural' the band finally renamed itself 'Well worn Zero'. In April 2006 they were dropped by Transcontinental Records. Last claims had them going 'indie' but there has been no success or news on them since.

Michael Johnson teamed up with former Natural producer Mike C and created a punk/funk rock band called Lukewarm Freeda. A few shows have been played in Orlando, Los Angeles and Tennessee but so far no CD has been released. He is VP of an Indie Label in LA and he plays percussion with a few other bands including Jake CoCo and In for the Kill.

[edit] Trivia

Two members of the boy band 'Natural' provided the voices in the Simpson episode New Kids on the Blecch -- Marc Terenzi for Nelson and Michael 'J' Horn for Milhouse.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

All release dates are German.

Title	Release date	Label	UPC	Notes
Albums
Keep It Natural	23 September 2002	Transcontinental/BMG	7-43219-39122-3
It's Only Natural	15 March 2004	Transcontinental	8-28765-13902-1	Debuted at #2 on German chart.

Singles
Put Your Arms Around Me	15 March 2002	Transcontinental	7-43219-24162-7	Released US in 2000, certified gold (500,000 copies) in US in 2001^[2]
Let Me Count The Ways	3 June 2002	Transcontinental	7-43219-38292-4 7-43219-47802-3
Will It Ever	16 September 2002	Transcontinental	7-43219-58982-8
Runaway	1 January 2003	Transcontinental	8-28765-05432-4
What If	10 November 2003	Transcontinental	8-28765-71522-5
Let Me Just Fly	16 February 2004	Transcontinental	8-28765-88632-1
Just One Last Dance	1 March 2004	Sony Music	50997-6747392-4	With Sarah Connor. No.1 in Germany (15/3/04) ^[3]
Why It Hurts	13 September 2004	Sony Music	50997-6753552-3