Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.

Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.
Nathaniel Hardy at Black Creek Studios in Miami, Florida.
Background information
Birth name	Nathaniel Sidney Hardy, Jr.
Born	April 19, 1964 (1964-04-19) (age 47) Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Origin	Baltimore, Maryland
Genres	Pop, R&B
Occupations	Songwriter, Musician, Keyboardist
Instruments	Keyboard
Years active	1980–1983
Labels	RCA Records
Associated acts	Chic, Change, Madonna, Carly Simon, Deborah Harry, The Basement Boys
Website	/ Official Website

Nathaniel Sidney Hardy, Jr. (born April 19, 1964, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American musician, composer, and keyboardist.

Biography

Nathaniel began his career as a band member in Baltimore's, Cherry Hill Junior High School (P.S.#180) marching band while growing up in the "Projects" of Cherry Hill. He joined to keep out of trouble when he noticed his brother Gershwin playing the Trombone he then decided to take music class. His music teacher Mr. Keenan suggested that he play the Bass Cello. Upon playing the Bass Cello, Nathaniel decided it was to troublesome to carry the Cello home for practice and switched over to playing Trombone along side his brother. Nathaniel continued to play the Trombone until the ninth grade under the direction on his new music teacher Miss Catherine Snyder. Once while watching neighborhood friends play instruments, he noticed his brother was acting like he was playing an organ his mother had bought, while the other band members were actually performing on his brother's friend Weldon Harris' porch, when they all stopped playing everyone knew that his brother was faking it. That is when Nathaniel decided to learn to how to play the keyboard. He worked numerous jobs saving up money to buy both music and stereo equipment. He taught himself by learning the keys and reading books.

In 1980, Nathaniel was approached by a friend Thomas Lee Brown, III to front a local band that he started called "Savior Faire". Later, the band was signed to RCA Records with Nathaniel fronting as lead vocalist. Thomas and Nathaniel would later write for artist such as: Kurtis Blow, Run-D.M.C., and other Rap Acts from some contacts that Thomas knew in New York. After less than three years with RCA, the band was dropped by RCA for failing to reach 500,000 units in sales and contract disputes. Nathaniel was able to maintain all rights to his music, when he was able to pay-back the advance that the record company had given him. In 1981 Nathaniel was introduced to Tony Thompson who was a drummer in the band Chic, at a party when he suggested he would introduce him to both Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Nathaniel was then invited to join a number of Chic, session recordings with Deborah Harry, Carly Simon, and on Madonna's Like a Virgin album, which was considered a re-united Chic, featuring band members: Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Tony Thompson, and Robert Sabino also while in the U.S. Navy he continued to write music with Bobby Brown, Teddy Riley, The Basement Boys, and Crystal Waters. In late 2008, Nathaniel started using the name The Nathaniel Hardy Project.

Selected discography

• Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) - Crystal Waters (1991)
• Two Can Play That Game - Bobby Brown (1994)
• Nothing Last Forever! - The Nathaniel Hardy Project (2005)
• I Love You More! - The Nathaniel Hardy Project (2006)
• Shut the Hell Up! (The Snitch Version) - The Nathaniel Hardy Project (2008)
• Ahhhh Yeah!!! - The Nathaniel Hardy Project feat. Faith R. Hardy-Molina (2010)

External links

• Chic (band) biography at Billboard Magazine
• Chic (band) biography at Rolling Stone Magazine

References

• http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p949257
• Change - www.jacquespetrus.com
• "Change US albums chart history". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3870/charts-awards

Persondata
Name	Hardy, Nathaniel S., Jr.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 19, 1964
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death