Natalia Noemi "Teddy" Sinclair (' Cappuccini'''; born 15 August 1986) is an English singer-songwriter and actress.
She has recorded music under various aliases, most famously as Natalia Kills and Verbalicious.
She is currently the lead vocalist of the band Cruel Youth, which also releases music under the name The Powder Room.
2003
She began pursuing a music career and had a significant breakthrough as "Candy Rapper" in 2003, when she won a BBC Radio 1 MC Battle in Leeds.
2004
'Next Big Me,' released under the name Verbalicous, was in the movie Sleepover in 2004.
2005
She signed to the UK record company Adventures in Music and released her first single "Don't Play Nice" under the name Verbalicious in February 2005.
Sinclair told W that her childhood nickname from her mother was "Verbal" because she talked and sang a lot.
She adopted the name and variations of it as her stage name at some points during her career.
2007
In 2007, while writing music for films, she posted Womannequin, a demo she produced and wrote under the name Natalia Cappuccini, to MySpace.
The EP received 2 million plays on the website, and she reached the top of the unsigned artists chart.
During this time, using the name Verse, she also co-wrote and appeared on "They Talk Shit About Me" by French recording artist M. Pokora and met Guillaume Doubet, who would go on to direct many of her videos, in Paris.
2008
Sinclair moved to Los Angeles in 2008.
Arriving without money or a place to live, Sinclair "lived out of these motels, bumming around, trying to work with or make songs with anyone who would have me for a couple of hours in the studio".
At the time she says she did awful things adding "I was just trying to survive and I was too young to know better."
While in L.A., a DJ introduced her to will.i.am after hearing her demo and learning that she did not have a record deal.
2009
In January 2009 will.i.am signed her to his record label, will.i.am Music Group.
2010
Through 2010 and 2011 Sinclair opened for Kelis, Robyn, Kesha, Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas over various tours.
Sinclair was featured in LMFAO's single, "Champagne Showers," and in Junior Caldera's single "Lights Out (Go Crazy)".
2011
As Natalia Kills, Sinclair signed a triple joint venture recording contract with will.i.am Music Group, KonLive Distribution and Cherrytree Records to release her debut album, Perfectionist (2011).
The album spawned the moderately successful singles "Mirrors" and "Free" (featuring will.i.am), with both singles certified gold by the BVMI.
The same year, she co-performed with American EDM duo LMFAO on their hit single "Champagne Showers", which became her most successful recording to date.
"We had a really good creative chemistry," she said in a 2011 Billboard interview.
Sinclair adopted the stage name Natalia Kills from the interjection "you killed it!", after her record company advised her that her legal name, "Natalia Cappuccini", was "indescribable."
Kills released her debut album Perfectionist in Germany in April 2011 following the release of her first single, "Mirrors", which hit the German Top 10.
The album was described as a concept album by Sinclair, claiming that everybody is a perfectionist.
The album was accompanied by four singles, "Mirrors", "Wonderland", "Free" and "Kill My Boyfriend".
2012
On 14 September 2012 Sinclair unveiled the video for "Controversy" to start promotion of her second studio album, Trouble.
The album was centered on her troubled childhood.
2013
Although Perfectionist underperformed commercially, its follow up, Trouble (2013) performed slightly better in the United States.
Sinclair attended an after-party for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, held on 25 August 2013 in Brooklyn, New York City, where she performed various songs from Trouble.
2015
She adopted the first name Teddy in 2015 and formed her own band Cruel Youth the following year, with whom she's released the extended play (EP), +30mg (2016).
Outside of her own recordings, Sinclair has written songs for Angel Haze, Madonna, and Rihanna.
In March 2015, Sinclair and her husband Willy Moon were fired as co-judges from New Zealand X Factor for their harsh comments towards a contestant.
Sinclair was born Natalia Noemi Cappuccini in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to a British father of Afro-Jamaican heritage and a Uruguayan mother, and attended Bradford Girls' Grammar School.
Her family left Bradford when she was a child and she spent her early years traveling between England, Jamaica and Spain.
She ran away from home when she was 14 and shifted her focus away from acting.
She has described her teenage years as "degenerate," stating that she tried to set her ex-boyfriend's house on fire while both were in it.
She had frequent legal trouble and periodically experienced suicidal depression.
She was also briefly involved with a religious cult.
2017
She received a Grammy Award nomination in 2017 for co-writing Rihanna's single "Kiss It Better".
