Natasja

Natasha or Natasha Saad was a Danish rapper, deejay and singer in the genres reggae, dancehall, hip-hop and rap, e.g. known for the song "Calabria" (2007). She was born in Copenhagen 31 Oct 1974, and died in a car crash in Jamaica 32 years old 24 June 2007. The driver is reckoned to have been drunk and affected by marijuana. Natasha's death was a painful loss to small Denmark, because of her highly engaging personality, and because she was finally in the presence of an international career breakthrough. In 2006 she won the reggae contest [[i]Irie FM Big Break Contest in Jamaica with the song "45 Questions" as the first non-Jamaican ever. Natasha's first hit, "Mon De Reggae", was built on the Rihanna Rihanna hit Pon de Replay. She made two albums and a number of singles before her death. The third album I Danmark er jeg født was released posthumously and was followed 2008 by an release – Shooting Star – sung in English. BIOGRAPHY Born in Copenhagen 1974, Natasja grew up listening to her mother's collection of Dennis Brown and Bob Marley records. This would mark the early steps in a life filled with music. Natasja’s debut on stage was at the mere age of 13 when she started singing/DJ'ing in Copenhagen with local Jamaican soundsystem Sky Juice and was noticed at a concert opening for Macka B and Arriwa Posse, where Mad Professor himself was blown away by her talent. She was ahead of her time alongside with Miss Mukupa and McEmzee introducing raggamuffin to the Danish hip hop community in the early nineties with the group called No Name Requested. During that period the girls did a lot of shows and travelled with artists such as: Queen Latifah, Das EFX, A Tribe Called Quest, and Massive Attack opened shows for people like Ninja Man, Charlie Chaplin and Lexxus, including a jam session in the studio with UB40. Natasja’s talent impressed many people from the reggae scene, which led to studio recordings, live performances and press coverage in Jamaica. Natasja suffered serious injuries due to a crash with a racehorse in 1998, during her training to become a professional jockey. The accident did slow her musical career down for a while, but not long after she would be pursuing her recording career again. During the summer of 2004 she released the 12" ‘Cover Me’, and later the 7" ‘Summercute’ followed one year later by her long anticipated debut album ‘Release’. Furthermore, she featured on the hit-single ‘Cigar’ from Denmark’s chartbusting dancehall trio Bikstok Røgsystem, and has also recorded with German reggae institution Germaicans on the Rodeo riddim. She also featured on the new album of Africa Unite. Natasja then stepped into the super league of reggae and recorded with legends Sly & Robbie in their studio in Jamaica. Natasja had legendary studio engineer Bulby do the mixing duties on the forthcoming revised international version of ‘Release’. Summer 2006 saw Natasja win Irie FM’s influential “Big Break” contest in Jamaica. 700 Natasha contestants, 12 finalists – but only one winner. She was the first non-Jamaican ever to win the contest. Natasja was touring in many different countries with her band ‘The Ragga Pack’ or with her soundsystem set up. In 2006 you could find Natasja at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica, Popkomm Reggae Festival in Berlin, Uppsala Reggae Festival in Sweden, SPOT, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and the legendary Sting Festival in Jamaica to name a few. Natasja, then aged 32, was killed in a car accident in Jamaica on June 24, 2007. Miss Mukupa, who was in the car as well but only suffered minor injuries, still blames herself for not stopping the drunk/high driver. DISCOGRAPHY ALBUMS * Release (2005) * Købmanden – Theater performed at Betty Nansen Teater (2006) * I Danmark er jeg født (2007) * Shooting Star (2008) * Gi' os Christiania tilbage - I Danmark er jeg født remixed (2013) SINGLES * 2003: "Colors of My Mind" 12" (Mega Records) * 2003: "Real Sponsor" 12" (Food Palace Music) * 2004: "Summer Cute" 7" (Food Palace Music) * 2004: "My Dogg /45 Questions" (Tuff Gong Distr.) * 2005: "Op med Hovedet" CD single (Copenhagen Records) * 2005: "Købmanden" (BMG) * 2006: "Mon De Reggae" * 2007: "[[Calabria (sang)|Calabria 2007]]" (ft. Enur) * 2007: "Long Time" 7" (Sly & Robbie) * 2007: "Gi' Mig Danmark Tilbage" * 2007: "I Danmark er jeg født" * 2008: "Better than dem (ft Beenie man)" * 2008: "Fi Er Min" * 2008: "Ildebrænd I Byen" * 2008: "Dig og Mig" * 2013: "Money and Tings" (Tiger Records) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.