Merril Bainbridge

Merril Bainbridge (born 2 June 1968) is an Australian pop music singer and songwriter. Her debut was in 1994 with the single, "Mouth", which peaked at number one for six consecutive weeks in Australia and became a top five hit in the United States. She came third and won twenty dollars' worth of tickets. Bainbridge began a solo career under the tutelage of producer Siew.

Music career The Garden: 1994–1997

In 1994, Bainbridge was signed to Ross Fraser and John Farnham's newly formed Gotham Records label. Fraser first heard Bainbridge when he received a tape in the mail and was interested by the combination of voice and guitar. but was lost in the Christmas shuffle. It was reissued in February 1995 where it came to be the biggest song of Bainbridge's career, peaking at number one in Australia for six consecutive weeks before becoming the fourth highest selling single in Australia for 1995. The second song released from The Garden was "Under the Water" which is a song about a lover who drowned, released in Australia in June 1995. The song did not match the success of "Mouth" but was still a top five hit, peaking at number four in Australia The Garden was released in Australia on 31 July 1995, where it debuted at its peak position at number five on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and certifying two times platinum selling 140,000 copies around Australia. In October 1995 the third song off the album was released titled "Power of One" which was not as big but still charted in Australia at number twenty-one. The fourth and final single "Sleeping Dogs" was released in Australia in February 1996 and featured the Bee Gees song "I Started a Joke" which was used for the bridge of the track. The song only peaked at number fifty-five in Australia.

Marc Nathan signed Bainbridge to the Universal Music record label in the United States by 1996. "Mouth" was released in the United States on 20 August 1996 and became the most requested song on American radio for three weeks. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number sixty-seven and after twelve weeks, the song peaked at number four. It spent a total of thirty weeks in the charts selling 600,000 copies and earning a gold single. The Garden was released on 24 September 1996 and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one hundred and sixty-one. After six weeks just missing the top one hundred it peaked at the position of one hundred and one. "Mouth" was Bainbridge's only release in the United Kingdom. It was released in November 1996 but did not show great success peaking at number fifty-one and spending eight weeks in the top two hundred. At the end of 1996 Bainbridge toured thirty cities in the U.S. for forty days and she presented an award at the Billboard Awards. The first single released from the album was "Lonely" which received wide radio airplay on FOX FM upon its release but only managed a peak at forty in Australia,

Post music career

In 2011, Bainbridge founded maternity fashion brand Peachymama. Bainbridge left the company in February 2022 after the company's acquisition by equity investors.

Discography Albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) AUS NZ US The Garden Released: 31 July 1995

Miscellaneous "2000 Miles" (1995) – a Christmas song written by Chrissie Hynde, and recorded for the compilation The Spirit of Christmas 1995. "Sydney from a 747" (1999) – a song on the soundtrack of the IMAX movie "Sydney – Story of a City" (1999) and included on "Olympic Record" (2000) the Sydney Olympic games official album. "Friends" (2000) – a song from the soundtrack to the Australian animation The Magic Pudding.

Awards and nominations

ARIA Awards Year Award Work Result Reference 1995 Best Pop Release"Mouth" Breakthrough Artist – Single Best New Talent Best Female Artist Single of the Year Song of the Year Highest Selling Single 1996 Breakthrough Artist – AlbumThe Garden Highest Selling Album Highest Selling Single "Under the Water"

APRA Awards Year Award Work Result 1995 Song of the Year "Mouth" 1996 Most Performed Australian Work "Under the Water" 1999 Most Performed Australian Work "Lonely"