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Merril Bainbridge

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Merril Bainbridge
Born (1968-06-02) 2 June 1968 (age 56)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
OccupationSinger-songwriter
InstrumentVocals
Years active1984–2003
LabelsGotham, Universal
Websitemerrilbainbridge.com

Merril Bainbridge (born 2 June 1968) is an Australian pop music singer and songwriter. Her debut was in 1994 with the single, "Mouth", which peaked at number one for six consecutive weeks in Australia and became a top five hit in the United States.[1][2]

Early career

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Merril Bainbridge started performing at age 9. Her first performance was at a carnival that her sisters persuaded her to enter because the prize was free carnival tickets.[3] She came third and won twenty dollars' worth of tickets.[3] After six years of performing in a variety of bands in Australia, and doing backup vocal work in exchange for studio time,[4] Bainbridge began a solo career under the tutelage of producer Siew.[4] Bainbridge stated that she and Siew "really connected well, from a creative point. I liked the way he worked and I knew I had so much more to learn in that environment [and] that's how it started. That was the point where I started feeling a lot more confident as a singer and then wanting to dive more into the songwriting side."[4] She also worked a day job before quitting to concentrate solely on music.

In 1991, she and Siew wrote the track "Could This Be Love" for the Techno-Color single "Unchained Melody".[5]

Music career

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The Garden: 1994–1997

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Main article: The Garden (Merril Bainbridge album)

In 1994, Bainbridge was signed to Ross Fraser and John Farnham's newly formed Gotham Records label.[6] Fraser first heard Bainbridge when he received a tape in the mail and was interested by the combination of voice and guitar.[6] "Mouth" was Bainbridge's debut release and the first song released from her debut album The Garden by Gotham Records. "Mouth" was released in Australia in October 1994[7] but was lost in the Christmas shuffle. It was reissued in February 1995 where it came to be the biggest song of Bainbridge's career, peaking at number one in Australia for six consecutive weeks before becoming the fourth highest selling single in Australia for 1995.[1][8] The second song released from The Garden was "Under the Water" which is a song about a lover who drowned, released in Australia in June 1995. The song did not match the success of "Mouth" but was still a top five hit, peaking at number four in Australia[1] and accrediting platinum by ARIA.[9] The Garden was released in Australia on 31 July 1995, where it debuted at its peak position at number five on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and certifying two times platinum selling 140,000 copies around Australia.[10] In October 1995 the third song off the album was released titled "Power of One" which was not as big but still charted in Australia at number twenty-one.[1] The ninth annual ARIA Awards saw Bainbridge nominated for seven awards but she failed to win any.[11] The fourth and final single "Sleeping Dogs" was released in Australia in February 1996 and featured the Bee Gees song "I Started a Joke" which was used for the bridge of the track. The song only peaked at number fifty-five in Australia.

Marc Nathan signed Bainbridge to the Universal Music record label in the United States by 1996.[12] "Mouth" was released in the United States on 20 August 1996 and became the most requested song on American radio for three weeks.[13] The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number sixty-seven and after twelve weeks, the song peaked at number four.[14] It spent a total of thirty weeks in the charts selling 600,000 copies and earning a gold single.[15] The Garden was released on 24 September 1996 and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one hundred and sixty-one. After six weeks just missing the top one hundred it peaked at the position of one hundred and one.[16] "Mouth" was Bainbridge's only release in the United Kingdom. It was released in November 1996 but did not show great success peaking at number fifty-one and spending eight weeks in the top two hundred.[17] At the end of 1996 Bainbridge toured thirty cities in the U.S. for forty days and she presented an award at the Billboard Awards.[6] She also performed at Madison Square Garden supporting American singer Sheryl Crow.[6] "Under the Water" was released in the United States on 18 February 1997 and debuted at number seven on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. After two weeks it broke into the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-seven. It took the song four weeks to reach its peak position of number ninety-one before it fell out of the chart from then on, spending six weeks in the Hot 100.[14]

Between the Days: 1998–1999

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Main article: Between the Days

While Bainbridge was completing her first international tour, she started writing the album Between the Days which she refers to it being a place she found herself when she was working on the album.[18][unreliable source?] The first single released from the album was "Lonely" which received wide radio airplay on FOX FM upon its release but only managed a peak at forty in Australia,[1] number eighteen on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and number twenty-five in Japan. Later that year, she released a cover of "I Got You Babe" featuring a small contribution from Shaggy (which appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Welcome to Woop Woop). Two more songs were released from the album - "Between the Days" and "Walk on Fire".

In 1999 Bainbridge participated in John Farnham's "I Can't Believe He's 50" tour with Kate Ceberano, Ross Wilson, James Reyne, Human Nature, and Nana-Zhami. She covered Farnham's tracks "Burn for You" and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head".

In 1999 Merril Bainbridge recorded "Sydney from a 747", a song written and previously recorded by fellow Australian Paul Kelly. The track appeared on the soundtrack of the IMAX film Sydney - A Story of a City and was released as part of an official music compilation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic games entitled "Olympic Record" (WEA Australia, 2000). This album is currently out of print.

2000–present

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In 2000, Bainbridge recorded a song named "Friends" for the Australian film The Magic Pudding which is featured on its soundtrack.

In 2003 the song "Girl Next Door" was released and an untitled album produced which remains unreleased. The album was due out in 2004, but then she realised that the tour would separate her from her family and left the music business.[19]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
AUS
[1] 		NZ
[20] 		US
[21]
The Garden
  • Released: 31 July 1995
  • Label: Gotham
 5 34 101
Between the Days
  • Released: 5 October 1998
  • Label: Gotham
 58 — —

Singles

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Title Year Peak positions Certifications Album
AUS
[1] 		GER
[22] 		JPN NZ
[20] 		UK
[23] 		US
[2]
"Mouth" 1994 1 71 — 17 51 4 The Garden
"Under the Water" 1995 4 — — — — 91
  • ARIA: Platinum[1]
"Power of One" 21 — — — — —
"Sleeping Dogs" 1996 55 — — — — —
"Lonely" 1998 40 — 25 — — — Between the Days
"I Got U Babe"
(featuring Shaggy) 		62 — — — — —
"Between the Days" 173 — — — — —
"Walk on Fire" 1999 — — — — — —
"Girl Next Door" 2003 105 — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes singles that did not chart or were not released in that country.

Notes

1 "Lonely" did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 18 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.[25] The "bubbling under" chart only represents the twenty-five singles below the Hot 100's number 100 position which have not yet appeared on the Hot 100.

Miscellaneous

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  • "2000 Miles" (1995) – a Christmas song written by Chrissie Hynde, and recorded for the compilation The Spirit of Christmas 1995.
  • "Sydney from a 747" (1999) – a song on the soundtrack of the IMAX movie "Sydney – Story of a City" (1999) and included on "Olympic Record" (2000) the Sydney Olympic games official album.
  • "Friends" (2000) – a song from the soundtrack to the Australian animation The Magic Pudding.

Awards and nominations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Australian (ARIA) chart peaks:
    • Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > Merril Bainbridge in Australian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
    • Top 100 peaks to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 23.
    • "Sleeping Dogs": "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 14 Apr 1996". ARIA, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017. N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached.
    • All ARIA singles chart peaks to 21 May 2018: "Response from ARIA re: Merril Bainbridge singles chart history, received 21 May 2018". Imgur.com. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Billboard > Merril Bainbridge Chart History > The Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Merril Bainbridge". Choose Cruelty Free. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  4. ^ a b c Galipault, Gerry (17 October 1996). "Merril Bainbridge's 'Mouth' Speaks for Itself". Pause & Play. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  5. ^ "Techno-Color Featuring Twiggy B – Unchained Melody". discogs. 1992. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d "The Making of Merril". Thei.aust.com. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2 March 1997. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  7. ^ "New Release Summary – Product Available from: 24/10/94 (from The ARIA Report Issue No. 245)". Imgur.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  8. ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Singles 1995". ARIA Charts. 27 May 2010.
  9. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1995". Imgur.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  10. ^ a b "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Albums". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  11. ^ "Merril Bainbridge". ARIA Awards. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  12. ^ Grossweiner, Bob; Cohen, Jane. "Industry Profile: Marc Nathan". celebrityaccess.com. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  13. ^ "The Making of Merril". thei.aust.com. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2 March 1997. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  14. ^ a b "Merril Bainbridge (U.S. chart positions)". Allmusic/Billboard. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  15. ^ "Gold & Platinum searchable database". RIAA. Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  16. ^ "The Garden (U.S. chart position)". Allmusic/Billboard. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  17. ^ "Chart Log UK 1994–2008 – Darren B – David Byrne". zobbel.de. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Mouth single on Dexxus listing". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  19. ^ "That was then, this is now". The Age. 28 February 2010.
  20. ^ a b "charts.nz > Merril Bainbridge in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  21. ^ "Billboard > Merril Bainbridge Chart History > Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  22. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > Merril Bainbridge – Mouth (single)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Official Charts > Merril Bainbridge". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  24. ^ "American single certifications – Merril Bainbridge". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Billboard > Merril Bainbridge Chart History > Bubbling Under Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Winners by Year 1995". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  27. ^ "Australia 1995 ARIA Awards". ALLdownunder.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  28. ^ "Winners by Year 1996". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
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