Lee’s career takes off

By Kath Gannaway
HEALESVILLE singer Natasha Lee is finding her own space in the highly competitive music world.
For talented mum of two pre-schoolers, singing has been a lifetime passion.
But it’s only in the past two or three years, in collaboration with well-known Healesville musician, Jev Telford, that Natasha says she has been able to find her own direction and pursue a career as a professional singer.
The pair’s first CD, The Honey Eaters, was released at the end of last year and has sold over the Internet through MySpace and CDBaby to a growing audience of fans around Australia and overseas including Spain, Germany, England, America and New Zealand.
The album is a compilation of 10 songs, nine written by Jev and one, Surrender, written by Natasha in a genre Natasha describes as contemporary/folk/rock.
She is backed on the album by Jev, who also produced, engineered and mixed it.
With their busy lifestyles, Natasha said she and Jev made a conscious decision to market the album to the widest possible audience. That meant putting it out on the Internet, and getting air time.
“We’ve been played on radio stations around Melbourne, including Triple R, and in Queensland and South Australia … the biggest thing is to get your name out there.”
While the pair has done a couple of live gigs, Natasha said they are already half way through a second album and have concentrated all their energy and time on producing and marketing the CDs.
They do however have plans to put themselves on stage next year starting with some gigs at Grape Grazing in February and some folk festivals.
More songwriting and performing live with her musician brother, Paul Sonsie, is also on the agenda.
“You can’t be a singer and not sing live, so I’m really looking forward to doing more of that,” Natasha said.
Mixing motherhood and launching any career is a tough gig in itself, but when that career is in the music industry, it’s even more challenging.
For Natasha it’s all about passion and believing in yourself.
“I live, breath and eat my kids and my music, so it all relies on each other; a lot of what I write is about them,” she said, undaunted by the challenge.
“This is my profession and I believe I will get there if I put the hours in.”
The Honey Eaters CD is available via http://cdbaby.com/cd/honeyeaters. Follow the links to hear two minute sound bites of all the songs on the album, or email to thehoneyeaters @iprimus.com.au.