Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, known professionally as Natalie D-Napoleon, is an Australian singer/songwriter, poet, and writer of creative non-fiction from Fremantle, Western Australia. Through fronting the Perth-based ensemble Flavour of the Month, she was a forerunner in the emergence of alternative country music within Australia and was the winner of the 2018 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize.
Music
Natalie D-Napoleon's emergence upon the Western Australian music scene came via fronting the alternative pop band Bloom. In 1997 Bloom won the Western Australian Music Industry Award for Most Promising New Act. Following the demise of Bloom, D-Napoleon, along with Month of Sunday's guitarist Grant Ferstat, formed an alternative country ensemble Flavour of the Month. The band's name was taken from the title of a song by The Posies from their album Frosting on the Beater. Flavour of the Month subsequently supported Ken Stringfellow of The Posies on one of his first solo tours of Australia. The band toured nationally in Australia as well undertaking tours of the United States and Europe. During this period D-Napoleon also contributed backing vocals to several independent recordings including Road to Rome by DM3, which was one of Dom Mariani's first solo albums after the hibernation of The Stems and former Stonemason's frontman, Joe Algeri's, solo debut 10 000 Sunny Days, along with singing with alternative-country band, The Jayco Brothers, in the live arena. After the demise of Flavour in the Month in 2005, D-Napoleon started performing solo and in November 2007 released her debut solo recording, a five-track EP titled "After The Flood". In 2009, D-Napoleon undertook two further solo recording. In April 2009 she collaborated with Santa Barbara-based musician and producer Jesse Rhodes on a six-track EP of cover versions. Titled Here in California the release features three songs from Australian composers and three songs from Americans. The recording features the collective talents of D-Napoleon, Rhodes, Kenny Edwards, Dan Phillips, Phil Parlapiano, and Sally Barr. In May 2009, D-Napoleon started work on her debut solo album. Partly funded by a Western Australia Department of Culture and the ArtsMusic Production Grant, the album was recorded at Sound Design Studios in Santa Barbara and produced by David Piltch. The recording features the collective talents of Kenny Edwards, Dan Phillips, Aaron Sterling, Greg Leisz, Victoria Williams, Phil Parlapiano, Jesse Rhodes, and Melanie Robinson. In the live arena, D-Napoleon has shared billings with the likes of Morphine, Ken Stringfellow, Jack Frost, The Stems, John Butler, Ash Grunwald, Dan Kelly, Whitley, Nic Dalton, Todd Snider, John Doe, Mark Olson, Victoria Williams and Vic Chesnutt. More recently she played the Sings Like Hell staged at Santa Barbara's historic Lobero Theater.
Writing and Poetry
Having had poetry and creative non-fiction work published in journals such as Westerly, Meanjin, Southerly, and Australian Poetry Journal, D-Napoleon was a finalist for the Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award in the 2018 and 2017 International Literary Awards through the Center for Women Writers.. In 2018 D-Napoleon was awarded the Bruce DaweNational Poetry Prize for her poem "First Blood: A Sestina" and in 2019 her most recent book, First Blood, was released through Ginninderra Press. The book includes a collection of poems-as-memoir that challenge the preconceptions of girlhood. In 2019 D-Napoleon was the International Guest Poet at the 2019 Perth Poetry Festival.
