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Natural was a US American Boyband . HISTORY The original band was formed in 1999 when future members Marc Terenzi and Patrick King met at a party. Marc Terenzi had a friend Ben Bledsoe , and Patrick had a friend Michael Johnson . The four got together and after subsquent members joined and lost, settled on fifth member Michael 'J' Horn . The five young men tried to get signed on their own but ended up being turned down by most major labels. The press release story goes they had rented out Transcon's rehearsal space and Lou ''Big Poppa'' Pearlman caught sight of their act and wanted to sign them immediately. After that he flew them out to Germany where they had first success among the local girls' hearts in a once aired special Reality Show . Convinced they could be the new 'N Sync , Pearlman brought them back to the United States. Lou had decided just being singing, dancing, and being cute wouldn't be enough in these new times so he decided each member should play an instrument as well; despite their abilities still not letting them write their own songs. Ben Bledsoe was the average guy one who played Bass and was one of the lead vocals, Marc Terenzi was the flirt who played Guitar and was one of the lead vocals, Michael 'J' Horn was the 'mature one' who played Piano and was the final lead vocal, Patrick King was the non threatening one who also played guitar, and Michael Johnson was 'the bad boy' who played the Drums . Most of the men had already had prior training in vocals but the dancing and instrument playing was another story. Some of them were trained in dance but not an instrument and some of them were trained in an instrument and not dance. However they worked hard and by the time of their debut they were all able to do both. In the summer of 2000 Pearlman hired the '' Genie In A Bottle '' writer for Natural's first single 'Put your arms around me'. He also struck a deal with teenage accessories store Claire's . The teenybopper store would sale the single as an extra with a $12 or more purchase. A Mall Tour in conjunction with Claire's followed. However something was lost because the single never actually charted on Billboard's Top 100 . Lou decided a US release just would not be any good and rushed the band back to Germany where their first album ''Keep it Natural'' was released. 'Keep it Natural' was the typical pop being much better written and having a more mature vibe. It was a big fan favorite according to most. The single and the album did quite well and tours followed. Much of their success and work was in Germany (including a second album, ''Its only Natural'' which was more rock and for the most part was actually written by the band members themselves) until the summer of 2004 when problems started rising. Recent singles such as 'Let me just fly' had charted in the low 20s and weren't doing as well as Pearlman had hoped. The tour to support ''Its only Natural'' was delayed until July 2004 it was announced the tour would go on; however it would be the band's last - and minus Michael 'J' Horn . Split Rumors were rife with why the band was splitting but most believe it was very much Lou Pearlman's fault. Marc Terenzi had met German Popstar Sarah Connor in the summer of 2003 and against Pearlman's wishes had kept dating her. Outside of the Marc controversy the members were beginning to grow tired of Lou's rules. Not only did Lou suppress their writing abilities; he forced them to completely lip sync on shows and worse yet on most of the shows on the final tour. The boys who could sing and play instruments weren't allowed to do either just supposed to pretend they were. Michael Johnson (Drummer) later said that they had made the most of it. He couldn't play guitar but in some of the shows he would pretend he could. Most fans however did not get the joke. Lou's other rules were also just as disheartening. For his boybands no member was allowed to get a piercing or tattoo, grow facial hair, and worst of all have a public girlfriend. The guys of course didn't always obey especially Michael Johnson (Drummer) and of course Marc Terenzi . In June 2004 it was announced Sarah Connor was pregnant and the couple was engaged. Pearlman didn't like this and wanted Marc Terenzi kicked out and replaced. Marc Terenzi was a founding member and the other members were not about to fall for it, so they decided to split - except for Patrick King. Aftermath In November of 2004 it was announced Lou Pearlman was going to keep on with the 'Natural idea' at least in name. Instead of boy banding them he had original member Patrick King and four new members who now were going to be doing 'fake punk' music instead of Pop . This did not sit well with many fans of the original band. A year and a half passed and the 'New Natural' had failed to even match the poor success of the later original Natural years. Many natives of the Orlando music scene stayed away from shows upon hearing the Boy Band tinged name. In early 2006 Lou's pets renamed themselves 'Well Worn Zero' and the name Natural was finally put to rest.
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Singles
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