Macy Gray – (2016) Stripped
Macy was horrified at the sound of her own voice. Today, her voice has been compared to that of Billie Holliday, Janis Joplin, and Tina Turner, and is one of the most distinctive in popular music. Her vocal talent, combined with a fresh sound, hip lyrics, and distinctive fashion sense, catapulted Macy to stardom in 1999, winning over both critics and audiences. The singer hasn't put a foot wrong since.
Born Natalie McIntyre in Canton, Ohio, on September 9, 1970, she took her stage name from a friend of her retired steelworker father. "Macy Gray was a guy who always came over to play pool with my husband," says her mother, Laura, Macy's teacher. "She was always extremely shy, and he always told her, 'You're going to be something special someday.'"
Macy attributes much of her shyness in her childhood to her voice, which was the target of teasing during her school days. Nevertheless, she displayed an eccentric individuality and creative flair early on. Macy studied classical piano, but writing was her primary outlet throughout her childhood. She was a gifted student and won a scholarship to attend the United States Naval Academy in 1985. However, Macy declined the offer and enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) to study film, intending to pursue screenwriting.
While in film school, Macy luckily stumbled upon what would become her future career when a friend asked her to perform in his jazz band. Initially apprehensive, she decided to give it a try. By the time she left USC in 1989, a few credits shy of graduation, Macy was singing in underground clubs in Los Angeles while dabbling in screenwriting. Music gradually began to take over, and the artist even organized a nightclub called "We Ours" in a Hollywood coffee shop.
After releasing demo tapes for most of the early 1990s, Macy finally landed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1994. Around this time, she met and fell in love with a local mortgage collector named Tracy Hinds. The couple had two children, daughter Aanisah in 1990 and son Tahmel a year later, before marrying in 1996. Macy was three months pregnant with their daughter Cassius when they separated in August 1997 and divorced a year later. To make matters worse, Atlantic decided simultaneously with the breakup of her marriage to stop releasing any of Macy's material and dropped her from the label.
The singer retreated to her mother's house in Canton and, convinced her music career was over, wanted to become a teacher. But a Los Angeles producer who heard her demos for Atlantic convinced her to return to the studio to record some tracks for a new demo.
Macy signed with Epic Records in April 1998 and within two months was working on her debut album, "On How Life Is." Released a year later, the album won over both audiences and critics—no small feat—and has since gone triple platinum. Her follow-up, 2001's "The Id," proved that the artist was no one-hit wonder, a string of hit singles and albums.
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