Life and career

1986-2010: Early life and career beginnings

Sinclair was born Natalia Noemi Keery-Fisher in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to a British father of Afro-Jamaican heritage and a Uruguayan mother, and attended Bradford Girls' Grammar School. Her family left Bradford when she was a child and she spent her early years travelling between England, Jamaica and Spain.

Acting professionally since the age of nine, she attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, studying classical drama. She ran away from home when she was 14 and shifted her focus away from acting. She has described her teenage years as "degenerate," stating that she tried to set her ex-boyfriend's house on fire while both were in it. She had frequent legal trouble and periodically experienced suicidal depression. She was also briefly involved with a religious cult.

Her acting debut was in New Voices. She had a regular role as Sima on the TV sitcom All About Me and as Amy Franks in the BBC's radio drama The Archers. She began writing songs at 14. After finishing with The Archers in 2003, She began pursuing a music career and had a significant breakthrough as "Candy Rapper" in 2003, when she won a BBC Radio 1 MC Battle in Leeds. She signed to the UK record company Adventures in Music and released her first single "Don't Play Nice" under the name Verbalicious in February 2005. Kills told W that her childhood nickname from her mother was "Verbal" because she talked and sang a lot. She adopted the name and variations of it as her stage name at some points during her career.

In 2007, while writing music for films, she posted Womannequin, a demo she produced and wrote under the name Natalia Cappuccini, to MySpace. The EP received 2 million plays on the website, and she reached the top of the unsigned artists chart. During this time, using the name Verse, she also co-wrote and appeared on "They Talk Shit About Me" by French recording artist M. Pokora and met Guillaume Doubet, who would go on to direct many of her videos, in Paris. Kills moved to Los Angeles in 2008. Arriving without money or a place to live, Kills "lived out of these motels, bumming around, trying to work with or make songs with anyone who would have me for a couple of hours in the studio". At the time she says she did awful things adding "I was just trying to survive and I was too young to know better." While in L.A., a DJ introduced her to will.i.am after hearing her demo and learning that she did not have a record deal. In January 2009, will.i.am signed her to his record label, will.i.am Music Group. "We had a really good creative chemistry," she said in a 2011 Billboard interview.

2010-14: Perfectionist, Trouble and marriage

Kills adopted the stage name Natalia Kills from the interjection "you killed it!", after her record company advised her that her legal name, "Natalia Cappuccini", was "indescribable." Kills released her debut album Perfectionist in Germany in April 2011 following the release of her first single, "Mirrors", which hit the German Top 10. The album was described as a concept album by Kills, claiming that everybody is a perfectionist. The album was accompanied by four singles, "Mirrors", "Wonderland", "Free" and "Kill My Boyfriend". Through 2010 and 2011 Kills opened for Kelis, Robyn, Kesha, Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas over various tours. Two tracks from Perfectionist, "Free" feat. will.i.am, and "Mirrors," hit the Top 10 in Europe and achieved sales of over 750,000. Kills was featured in LMFAO's single, "Champagne Showers," and in Junior Caldera's single "Lights Out (Go Crazy)".

On 14 September 2012, Kills unveiled the video for "Controversy" to start promotion of her second studio album, Trouble. The album was centered on her troubled childhood. Kills attended an after-party for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, held on 25 August 2013 in Brooklyn, New York City, where she performed various songs from Trouble. Two days later, "Outta Time" was released as the album's second promotional recording free of charge in a Polydor Records newsletter, coinciding with the US release of Trouble. Trouble was officially released on 3 September 2013 as a digital download in the United States and Canada.

On 10 April 2014, American singer-songwriter Madonna shared pictures online showing her along with Kills and Martin Kierszenbaum in a recording studio. On the same day, fashion editor Alex Catarinella officially declared to BlackBook magazine that Kills would be married to Willy Moon on 23 May, in New York City. During an interview she gave to New Zealand-edited fashion magazine Black, Kills said she had just moved in with Moon and that she had been recording a few songs. On 31 May 2014, she was invited to charity event Life Ball, which took place in Vienna, Austria, mostly for a live performance kicking off the event, and a concert. On 29 June, she made an appearance at the Minneapolis gay pride festival, where she appeared on stage dressed as a bride. In mid-October 2014, while interviewed for Paper Magazine, she confirmed the future release of new material.

2015-present: The X Factor, Collaborations and Cruel Youth

Kills and husband Willy Moon were featured as judges and mentors on season 2 of the New Zealand version of The X Factor. They were the mentors of the Boys and Groups categories respectively. During the first live show, in a highly-publicized scandal, the two made scathing remarks towards contestant Joe Irvine. Kills described Irvine as a doppelganger over his alleged copying of Moon's hairstyle and dress sense, deeming him a "laughing stock", overtly "cheesy" and "disgusting", while Moon compared Irvine to the fictional killer Norman Bates. The comments led to widespread condemnation on social media, including a petition to have Kills fired from the show, which reportedly received over 70,000 signatures within 24 hours. The show's sponsors, franchise owner and judges Melanie Blatt and Stan Walker also voiced disapproval of the incident, and Moon and Kills were both fired from the show the next day. Kills was replaced by Natalie Bassingthwaighte, a former judge on the Australian version of the show, while Moon was replaced by Shelton Woolright.

After departing The X Factor, it was revealed in the media that Kills had been dropped by her record label, Cherrytree Records, shortly before appearing on the show. Kills confirmed to Billboard that she was no longer with Cherrytree Records, but that she was still with Interscope Records.

Sinclair worked with Madonna on her album Rebel Heart, co-writing the song "Holy Water".

In 2015, Sinclair's song “Problem” off of her album Trouble (released in 2013) was featured in the film soundtrack for Pitch Perfect 2 which hit Number 1 in the album charts and won an American Music Award.

Sinclair worked with Rihanna on her eighth studio album Anti, co-writing the single "Kiss It Better".

In early 2016, Sinclair started a band, Cruel Youth, with (her husband) Moon. Their first song, "Mr. Watson", was released on Soundcloud in February, that was then followed by "Diamond Days" in April, which was also released on ITunes.

Style and influences

Kills has mentioned Kate Bush and Alanis Morissette as her most important musical influences, describing them as emotional artists "who write honestly about their opinions and experiences." The singer also stated she considered Gwen Stefani, who is a musical and stylistic inspiration, as her "hero", adding that Prince, Vanity 6, and Freddie Mercury have already inspired her during live performances. Kills explores music that is both confessional and bold when looking for inspiration, she reveals: "I don't listen to music to let go, I listen to dive in", listing Hole, Marilyn Manson, and Eminem among her favorite artists and bands with whom she grew up. According to Jon O'Brien of AllMusic, Kills gradually composed a musical tone incorporating "the theatrical dance-pop of Lady Gaga, 1940s film noir, and the electro-gloom of Depeche Mode." She also reported that she has always been a pop music fan, especially in evoking contemporary "new age" artists as Adele, Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Ivy Levan and Lorde.

Kills claims to be influenced by her own experiences. She is also inspired by cinema when composing songs. In this regard, she said during an interview for MKR Magazine:

I'm a huge fan of Stanley Cooper, Tarantino, Gaspar Noé. I love anything that's beautiful and disturbing and horrifying and gorgeous at the same time. I do get inspired, definitely. I don't listen to a lot of music except my own, but I definitely like music a lot.

Discography

Main article: Natalia Kills discography

• Perfectionist (2011)
• Trouble (2013)

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	New Voices	Pearl	Episode: "The Treasure of Zavimbi"
2002-04	All About Me	Sima	Main cast
2003	Casualty	Samina Khan	Episode: "Stuck in the Middle with You"
2003	Coronation Street	Laura Mangen	2 episodes
2004	Doctors	Hazel Perry	Episode: "A Decisive Moment"
2004	Blue Murder	Anisa Khan	Episode: "Fragile Relations"
2005	No Angels	Sujata	Series 2, episode 7
2006	Silent Witness	Kelly Wetherby	Episode: "Supernova: Part 1"
2006	Tripping Over	Julie	2 episodes
2007	Cape Wrath	Kerry	Episode: "Pilot"
2015	X Factor (New Zealand), TheThe X Factor (New Zealand)	Herself	Series 2 judge; 1 episode

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Love, Kills xx	Herself	Web series; 10 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]