Natural
Many publicity stories exist as to how Natural was started, but the most likely one is that in 1999, Marc Terenzi met a man named Patrick King at a party. The men hit it off and with their friends Michael Johnson and Ben Bledsoe they created a boy band which was the big thing of the time. After many line up changes Ben Bledsoe found Michael through his vocal teacher. He sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for his audition and even had to do it over the phone for members who were not present at the time. And with that Michael joined Natural.
The boys tried to get signed with many major labels but were turned down despite a huge local following in Orlando, FL. One day as they rehearsed at Transcontinental Studios, boyband king Lou Pearlman noticed them and liked their act. Soon after, they were signed with Transcontinental Records.
Lou Pearlman had a new twist for his old boy band vision: not only would they dance, sing, and look cute, but they would also play instruments. Michael became the pianist and one of the lead vocalists.
Lou Pearlman spared no expense promoting the guys' first single with Claire's and a tour with the Monkey's. However American fame was slow and the guys were soon sent to Germany to conquer little girl's hearts. They had much success with such hits as "Put Your Arms Around Me", "Will It Ever", and "Runaway".
In the Summer of 2001 Marc Terenzi met German pop star Sarah Connor at a music festival. The two soon hit it off and were dating despite Lou Pearlman's wishes. Lou Pearlman had strict rules for his boy bands: they could not have facial hair, they could not have many piercings or tattoos, and they definitely could not have girlfriends. However, the relationship continued on.
Meanwhile Michael seemed to have trouble adjusting to boy band life. He often refused to wear the silly and skimpy (the boys posed almost nude at least 3 times in the band's history) outfits looking the odd one out. He also did not seem to enjoy the poppy music; his true love was Jazz and Broadway styled tunes.
In the summer of 2003 Sarah Connor became pregnant and the couple became engaged. Around this time Natural was coming back from a hiatus and releasing a single 'What if' from their 2nd album It's Only Natural. Lou Pearlman was not happy with the news and wanted Marc kicked out of Natural and replaced with someone new. The other members (except Patrick King) were not thrilled with this and decided to break Natural up.
However Michael appeared to have very little to do with the project by this point. While Lou was threatening the end of the band it appeared the tour would not happen and Michael made other commitments to star in a production of 'Merrily We roll along' back home. He also had a few other projects coming up with Rollins College which he had been attending. By the time it was announced the tour would gone Michael decided he had had enough and would not join the other guys.
Read more about this topic: Michael 'J' Horn
Famous quotes containing the word natural:
“The domestic career is no more natural to all women than the military career is natural to all men.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good-will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
—Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)