Natasha Redding

Every artist or producer, no matter how cynical or jaded, who’s ever wandered into Ifield’s studio and heard “Tash” recording background vocals and then got a look if not a stare at her emerging from the booth now believes in love at first sight.

When you first hear Natasha, you think she belongs in the studio. When you see her, you know she belongs on stage.

For Natasha, it began as it has for so many of the great r&b stars, in the church. It is where they learn to execute harmonies, from the simplest chords to the most complex of melodies, to the discipline of singing in unison, to subbing for a missing alto or soprano and expanding their range. It’s also where they learn to appreciate the power and the source of their God-given gift.

Hartford-born, and the youngest of five children, Natasha says she gets her strength from her father, on whose birthday she was born, and her singing talent and spirituality from her mother. Bused to suburban schools where choirs were a big deal, Natasha was quickly identified as a soloist. By middle school she had successfully auditioned as their JazzBand soloist.

“While all that was going on,” my church choir at Agape Ministries was also recording an album. That was my first experience in a recording studio.”
Her group, Destiny, was formed when some girls she didn’t know yet asked her to join them in an upcoming Hall High School talent show.

“Our blend was such a unique gift, we soon had management and vocal coaches from the University of Hartford helping us work toward our dream as a group. Our name was too close to Destiny’s Child so it was changed to Urban Angels and we were quickly signed to Universal Records. But the timing was bad, the label was going through merger, D’Angelo had left and Erika Badu was on her way out, so we left, too, and formed Hot Shot Entertainment, our own label.”

While rewarding, the stress of being an artist and running a business at the same time eventually proved overwhelming.

“But I would do it all over again,” says Natasha, “All that I experienced made me into the person I am today and I’m still here doing what I love – singing.”

“It’s Natasha’s voice you hear doing most of the background vocals on our label’s first release,” explains A&R Director Meltzer. “I’d been trying unsuccessfully to persuade her to do a lead vocal for us for nearly a year. I’d almost given up. Then, one day, out of the clear blue, while she was recording the background vocals for “You Stood By My Side,” a ¾ time ballad I wrote with Bill Bloom, Natasha said she enjoyed singing on the up-tempo rhythm track Ifield and I created as a fusion of reggae, r&b, and gospel with some Trinidadian calypso touches on the steel drums (pan). So, very gingerly, I asked her if she would like to sing the lead, too, in duet with Burnie, and she said yes. I couldn’t believe it. I asked her – like maybe five times – ‘for real?’ - and each time she said yes, she would do it. When her old and new fans hear what she can do back out there on the lead, I know everyone will be glad she did.”