The Complete Disco Guide to...

Ultra Naté

Ultra Nate 
portrait from a novel photo on 2001 album cover Ultra Naté Wyche was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA in 1968. In 1989, she sang on "It's Over Now", a club hit by the Basement Boys that only reached #62 on the UK Pop chart. She continued working on a number of other dance hits during the 1990s. But Ultra's music transcends genres and on her 2001 album she clearly experiments with several styles. She is not only a house or disco diva, but a lot more as well. The dance songs that she does sing are magnificent, soulful, and full of meaning.

Ultra sang "Music Came to Save My Life" on the 2002 D'Influence album D-Vas.

Her dance single "Brass in Pocket" was released on July 28, 2003. Her next single, the jazzy track "Feel Love", was released on April 12, 2004. She contributed the vocals to the electronic dance track "Freak On" on Stonebridge's 2004 album "Can't Get Enough".

2010 saw the release of her album "Things Happen at Night", a collaboration with Unruly Productions. Tony Moran featured her on the 2010 song "Destination", which got up to #10 on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

2011 was the year when "Turn It Up" and "Waiting on You" got released as singles. "Waiting on You" is a collaboration with singer Michelle Williams that peaked at #11 on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The house track "Turn It Up" peaked at #4 on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart in 2011 and was released in 11 mixes. Both songs are slated to be included on Ultra's forthcoming album "Hero Worship".

She and background vocalist Dawn Tallman teamed up with producer Marion D. to record "God's Message", which got released in multiple mixes in 2012.


DISCOGRAPHY

Classic Songs:
1989: It's Over Now
1991: Deeper Love, Scandal, Rejoicing (I'll Never Forget)
1993: Show Me, Joy
1995: Party Girl (Turn Me Loose)
1998: Free, Found A Cure, New Kind of Medicine
2001: Desire, Dear John, I Don't Understand It, Stranger Than Fiction
2003: Brass in Pocket
2004: Feel Love
2006: Love's the Only Drug
2007: Automatic, Give It All You Got
2009: Faster Faster Pussycat (Let's Go!)
2010: Destination
2011: Turn It Up, Waiting on You
2012: God's Message

Albums:


Blue Notes in the Basement (1991)
TRACKS:   Blue Notes      Sands of Time      Is it Love?      Deeper Love (Missing You)      You and Me Together      It's Over Now      Scandal      Rejoicing (I'll Never Forget)      Rain      Love Hungover      It's My World      Funny (How Things Change)

One Woman's Insanity (1993)
TRACKS:   How Long      You're Not the Only One      Show Me      I'm Not Afraid      Incredibly You      Joy      I Specialize in Loneliness      One Woman's Insanity      Feelin' Fine      Love is a Many Splendored Thing

Situation: Critical (1998)
TRACKS:   Situation: Critical      New Kind of Medicine      Free      Found A Cure      It's Crying Time      Release the Pressure      Any Ole Love      Love You Can't Deny      Every Now and Then      Divine Love      Found A Cure (Full Intention Mix)
The dance/pop single "Free" sold over a million copies worldwide, with high sales in England, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, and the USA. "New Kind of Medicine" is a nice mid-tempo disco song that recalls the best of Chic.
Stranger than Fiction (2001)
TRACKS:   Love is Stranger than Fiction (Prologue)      Ain't Looking for Nothing      Get It Up (The Feeling)      Desire      Dear John      Eternal      Twisted      Pretender      Breakfast for Two      I Don't Understand It      Gone Like Yesterday      Love is Stranger than Fiction (Epilogue)      Ghost
This album has a variety of producers and a good blend of styles. The lyrics are romantically-themed. The disco songs are "I Don't Understand It", "Get It Up", and "Dear John". Check out the real strings on "I Don't Understand It" and "Dear John"! "Get It Up" samples "Tell Me When You Need It Again" by the Isley Brothers. "Breakfast for Two" has a disco beat but is very HI-NRG and not very disco. The Japanese version of this album has a cover of "How Deep is Your Love", which was originally recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977. "I Don't Understand It" was released as a 12" single in March 2002.

"Dance artist Ultra Nate's (pronounced Na-TAY) Stranger Than Fiction (Strictly Rhythm Records) is the third album by the Chicago native, and her finest. Stranger Than Fiction centers on the many different manifestations of love: found, lost, unrequited, bizarre, etc.; it is supported by some of the best (and most diverse) dance music on the scene today... Nate's appeal is subtle. She doesn't woo with vocal gymnastics, going instead for pure cool. Most impressive are the bluesy 'Twisted,' the throbbing 'I Don't Understand It', and the simply delightful 'Ghost'... Stranger Than Fiction is an accomplishment, and should bring Nate the wider audience she deserves." - Steven G. Fullwood, in Africana.com (May 16, 2001)

"'Stranger Than Fiction' features collaborations with Masters At Work, Moody Swing, and it is Ultra Nate's most self-assured work to date. Whilst it further stretches Ultra Nate's desires to cloud the boundaries between pop and r&b and surging 4/4s and rock stylings, tracks such as 'Ain't Looking For Love' and 'Twisted' highlight why her quavering, hugely uplifting voice is peerless. Compared to the introspective tone of 'Situation:Critical', 'Stronger Than Fiction' is carefree rather than careworn. After all, songs such as 'Get It Up', 'Desire' and 'Breakfast' aren't exactly troubled meditations on failed love. She's still the dancefloor diva, alright, but her power as a songwriter and her choice in collaborations takes her beyond that... At her best, Ultra Nate is as contemporary as the latest must-have mix, yet as timeless as a soul-pop classic... Judging by how stress-free, confident and above all individual 'Stranger Than Fiction' sounds, Ultra Nate isn't up for chasing another 'Free' with pale imitations. She's proved that she's a bankable soul singer, now she wants to concentrate on being a long-term, quality artist." - 7 Magazine (Issue 54)

"'Ain't Looking For Nothing', 'Get It Up (The Feeling)' and 'Breakfast For Two' are funky, addictive dance-floor numbers... The most interesting track on the album is 'Dear John' which opens with instrumentation straight from a cult 1970s American TV series and then launches into a pounding melody." - John Galilee, Amazon.co.uk


Grime, Silk, and Thunder (2007)
TRACKS:   Loosely Based On      Love's the Only Drug      Freak On      Give It All You Got      Scandal      Automatic      Slow Grind      Falling      Getaway      Feel Love      Lethal Shot      Star (It's Showtime)      This House      It's Over Now
Ultra's fifth album was recorded between 2005 and 2007 and released by Tommy Boy Music's Silver Label on June 5, 2007. Her totally electronic house single "Love's the Only Drug", one of the songs that later made its way onto the album, had been released on October 23, 2006. "Automatic" is a remake of the 1984 Pointer Sisters hit. "Give It All You Got" by Ultra Naté collaborating with Chris Willis, was released as a single on December 4, 2007 and reached #1 on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart in 2008.

HOW TO ORDER YOUR FAVORITE ULTRA NATÉ SONGS

CD TITLEMerchant 1Merchant 2Merchant 3
Stranger Than Fiction
Situation: Critical
Grime, Silk, and Thunder

Related links:

  • Ultra Naté - Official Website
  • Ultra Nate Discography
  • Discogs: Ultra Naté
  • Disco Savvy Homepage