Natalie Bassingthwaighte

She participated in a variety of performances, including 1950s, 1970s, country and Hanna-Barbera shows.

After working at Wonderland Sydney, Bassingthwaighte performed for two seasons as lead vocalist and stand-up comic at the Kaos Comedy Theatre restaurant in Sydney.

During that time she auditioned for other musicals.

Bassingthwaighte grew up in the suburb of Mount Warrigal as the second of four girls with her older sister Melinda (born ca. 1974) and the twins, Lisa and Nicole (born ca. 1982).

From a young age, she used to charge 20 cents for family and friends to come and see her dress up and put on mini concerts.

Bassingthwaighte got her first role in a primary school production at Balarang Primary School of Peter Pan, playing the character Tinker Bell.

She enrolled at Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts and graduated from the Australian College of Entertainment.

After college, Bassingthwaighte successfully auditioned for a job at a theme park, Wonderland Sydney.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte (born 1 September 1975) is an Australian singer, actress and television personality.

Born and raised in Wollongong, New South Wales, she began her career in musical theatre.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte was born on 1 September 1975 in Wollongong, New South Wales, to Betty (born ca. 1953) and Michael Bassingthwaighte (AM) (born ca. 1952).

Betty has worked as a theatre nurse.

Since 1982 Michael has worked as the CEO of a health care insurance provider.

She later pursued an acting career in 1998 with guest appearances in television shows.

Bassingthwaighte has been married twice; in 1998 she married Graham Wilmott, a chef from Wollongong, for two years.

Bassingthwaighte was chosen from over 6,000 people for the role as Mrs. Cohen in the Australian tour of the rock musical, Rent (1999).

During Rent's tour, she auditioned for another stage production, Chicago.

The casting directors were initially dubious given that she was not an A-List dancer, however she won the role of June and understudied the principal role of Roxie Hart.

In 2002, during Chicago's run in Perth, Bassingthwaighte and some cast and crew members decided to visit The Pinnacles, a limestone formation and tourist attraction about 190 km north-west of Perth.

On the way there they became lost and their 4WD broke down; they were rescued by a Navy helicopter.

Her first lead role was in the Asian production Chang & Eng, which depicts the biography of the first Siamese twins; Bassingthwaighte portrayed Adelaide Yates in both the Singapore and Bangkok seasons of the show.

Bassingthwaighte had considered a music career for some years and had been a member of an R&B group, but it did not work out, and her interest focused on other options.

Formed in 2002 with James Ash on keyboards and Steve Davis on guitars, the group had used a variety of guest vocalists and issued a debut album before seeking a permanent singer.

After being presented with the band's music, Bassingthwaighte auditioned for Ash and Davis.

The pair had auditioned 15 to 20 candidates, and after she performed their song "Voodoo Child", she became the band's front-woman.

Bassingthwaighte rose to prominence in 2003 on the Australian soap opera Neighbours for her role as Izzy Hoyland, which earned her three Logie Award nominations.

In 2004, she was recruited as the lead singer of Australian electro-pop band, Rogue Traders.

By 2004, she had begun working on her own demos: songs with an acoustic-rock sound and, later that year, she was recruited as the lead singer for Australian electro-pop band, Rogue Traders.

In May 2005, the band released "Voodoo Child" as their fifth single—the first with Bassingthwaighte—which reached number four on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified platinum for shipments of 70,000 units in Australia.

After leaving Neighbours in 2006 to focus on her music career, Bassingthwaighte released a cover of "Don't Give Up" with Shannon Noll, which peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified platinum.

In 2008, she left Rogue Traders to pursue her solo music career.

Bassingthwaighte released her debut solo album 1000 Stars in 2009, which spawned the platinum top-ten hits "Alive" and "Someday Soon".

The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold.

Aside from her acting and music career, Bassingthwaighte co-wrote her first book, Sistahood: A Journal of Self-Discovery, with her younger sister in 2008.

That same year, she made her debut as a television presenter, hosting So You Think You Can Dance Australia for its first three seasons, which earned her another three Logie Award nominations.

From 2011 to 2014, she was a judge and mentor on The X Factor Australia, and briefly joined The X Factor New Zealand in 2015.

That same year, Bassingthwaighte launched her own children's clothing label, Chi Khi.

In December 2011, she married her former Rogue Traders bandmate Cameron McGlinchey.

The couple have two children, a daughter named Harper Rain Sinclair McGlinchey and a son named Hendrix John Hickson McGlinchey.

After seven years away from the Rogue Traders, Bassingthwaighte returned as the band's lead singer in 2015.