Before she could even muttter words, Natalie expressed a love for music. Her immediate family quickly noticed she not only enjoyed listening to music, but she also showed she loved making it. It was around the age of two that Natalie would be found sitting next to the record machine with her ear pressed against the speaker singing along to Nathalie Simard's "Petit Papa Noel" and ABBA's "Chiquitita". At the age of 4, Natalie joined her first church choir.

Natalie's pretty, but soft voice soon earned her constant praise and recognition from school music teachers and choir directors. It isn't often that a young child is found that can sing perfect pitch.

At the age of 9, Natalie began taking piano lessons with Jean-Paul Richard, local music teacher and church choir director. In her two years of lessons, Natalie earned top 3 status in her class at the Bouctouche Music Festival.

It was time to move on, and for the next 3 years, Natalie continued lessons with Juanita Pellerin. Emphasis on hand positioning and musicality were Mme Pellerin's speciality. Sadly, Mme Pellerin became ill and passed away in 1992.

Despite losing her teacher, and friend, Natalie continued to work on her music. She sang in the school choir until 1992.

1992 marked a new beginning for Natalie. She began taking lessons with Sister Rose-Mai Maillet, a teacher with the Notre-Dame-D'Acadie music school. For three years, Natalie worked on her techniques, theory, solfia, and musical dictation. In addition to taking NDA's exams, Natalie also participate in Moncton's Music Festival. Once again, she consistently earned top 3 status in the festival, specifically earning praise for her sight reading and musicality. Natalie earned grade 5 status with Notre-Dame-D'Acadie.

Natalie always made sure to keep up with her singing. In high school, she would participate in school variety shows, and at the age of 16, became the Adult Church Choir's youngest member. She sang with the choir until the age of 21.

Summer of 1998, Natalie had the privelege and distinct honour of singing the Acadian national anthem, "Ave Maris Stella" during the Acadian Day holiday while standing next to New Brunswick's Premier, Camille Theriault.

In 1999, Natalie had the honour of performing in front of her graduating class, peers and family members. She performed "The River" by Garth Brooks at her college graduation and people were all ears. Classmates and teachers were delightfully surprised to hear Natalie's voice for the first time, and hopefully it wasnt the last time.

Music took somewhat of a backseat for the next few years due to Natalie adjusting to life as an adult. Sometime in the year 2001, Natalie began going to local karaoke bars and sang for fun. She earned praise from karaoke hosts, as well as encouragement from her friends and other listeners.

In 2003, the Idol series came to Canada and Natalie became a contestant for the show. Even though the first judge she saw enjoyed her look and performance, he did not let her move to the next round because her voice "was not powerful enough". Even though she was dissapointed, Natalie did not give up. She began writing lyrics with the hopes of someday putting music to them and recording an album.

In 2004, Natalie became a Thursday night regular at the jam sessions at Wize Guyz Pub in Moncton. She would jump on stage with friend, Lance Frost, and sing popular songs by Lynard Skynard, Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow to name a few.

In 2005, karaoke began at Wize Guyz Pub on Saturday nights and Natalie would often find herself there to sing with friends. In April, Natalie became the new host at the bar and continued to work with Top Notch Music Services until December of the same year.

In January 2006, Natalie began hosting karaoke with the city's top karaoke & dj company, Mike's Entertainment. She would find herself singing anywhere between 2 and 5 nights a week. Friends and even bar staff would notice the progress Natalie made, and quickly found herself singing songs by artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Evanescence, Celine Dion, and more.

Due to a new job, Natalie had to quit hosting karaoke in August of 2006, but she would try to make it out to jam with friend, Lance Frost, or go to other karaoke nights.

In October 2006, Natalie became a contestant in the Maritime Idol competition and made it to the October month-end finale that took place November 25th, 2006 in Rogersville, NB at Club 126. While she did not secure a spot in the year-end finals, Natalie received positive comments from judges and has decided to compete again in January 2007.

Natalie is currently writing for her first album, due out in 2007.

© NATALIE GOULD, 2006 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.