ARTIST

Daniel Bedingfield

Daniel Bedingfield has become a young U.K. garage sensation ever since his explosive single "Gotta Get Thru This" topped the British dance charts in 2001. Having been rejected by a handful of London record labels, he took matters into his own hands: After recording the majority of what would soon be his debut album in his bedroom, he unassumingly sent the soon-to-be hit to a few major DJs. Soon after garage impresario EZ picked it up and added it to the Pure Garage 4 compilation, "Gotta Get Thru This" took off and the 22-year-old, New Zealand-born singer-songwriter was suddenly the center of a bidding war.

Bedingfield was raised in southeast London and began writing songs at age 6. A few years later, he formed a group called DNA Algorhythm with his sisters, Natasha and Nikola; the family trio played gigs at their mother's counseling seminars and some nationwide festivals. At age 16, Bedingfield got his first synthesizer, which led him onto the musical path that he walks today.

After his single's initial success, Bedingfield eventually signed to Polydor U.K. and Island Records and recorded his full-length album, also titled Gotta Get Thru This, an irresistible array of dance-garage anthems and ebullient R&B harmonies with a funk/teen-pop aura. Bedingfield has described it as what Sting, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder would sound like jamming together in a basement, though in reality most of the writing and recording took place in his humble London flat with the help of one computer, one microphone, and some very forgiving neighbors.

Written by Minnie Chi