Laura Mayne

Biography

Laura Mayne grew up in a musical hose hold. Her father a guitarist and a boogie and rock n 'roll fan and an older brother a hard rock fan. After studding singing, music theory and piano, she went on to perform all styles of gospel, jazz, soul to rock and was briefly a member of her brother's hard rock band: Strike.    

In 1991, Laura Mayne formed the band Native with her sister Chris, an Acid Jazz-soul genre. She met Fred Versailles who collaborated with the french rap band NTM. Fred produced and co-composed the first Native album with Laura on which the track "Sometimes It Snows In April" (Prince and The Revolution) was featured. This album marked the start of the French Soul/Rn'B scene.   In 1994, the album went Gold and Platinum, selling 400 000 copies and Native received the "Victoire de la Musique" award for "Best Breakthrough Artist". They were nominated in the "Group of the Year" category in 1995, 1996 and 1998. Laura and her sister performed about 150 concerts on their first national French tour and went on to perform in Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. To celebrate this live success and the release of the single "Sometimes It Snows in April", a live EP Nat(l)ive was released which featured a great version of the cult classic "I Want You Back" (Jackson 5) and "Luiza" (Antonio Carlos Jobim).

Laura Mayne was chosen by Walt Disney to embody the singing voice of Pocahontas in the animated film "Pocahontas, an Indian legend". The single "L'air Du Vent" ("Colors Of The Wind") came out in November 1995.

Native second studio album was released in Mai 1997. The material for this album was composed by Laura in collaboration with Rick Nowels, Billy Steinberg and Jon Lind (American singer and songwriter who has worked for Madonna, Cher, Earth Wind and Fire...) and Diane Warren (Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Cher, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton...). Sales for this album were in excess of 250,000 copies.

Laura Mayne and her sister also had their own radio show called "Les Couleurs De l'été" (The colors of summer) on Europe2 radio station. The year 1999 marks the end of the duet which came quite abruptly after several years of great acclaim and over a million records sold.

It was in 2001 that Laura reappeared for her acting debut, alongside Patricia Kaas and Jeremy Irons, in Claude Lelouch's movie "And Now Ladies And Gentleman" scored by Michel Legrand. That same year, Laura Mayne continued her work as a composer and producer, working on Nadiya's debut album. She wrote and composed the title "Ouvre Grand Ton Coeur" (Open up your heart), a song that also appears on Nadiya's second studio album "16/9". Meanwhile, Laura traveled extensively in Nepal, the United States, Chile and especially in China where she lived for two and a half years.

In 2004, Laura Mayne appeared on the album of Shazz, a french Pop/electro artist where she performed a cover of the Annie Lennox's song "Cold". She wrote and composed the song "El Hamdoulilah" for Nadiya's new eponymous album.

In June 2006. Laura directed over four documentaries for Yannick Noah, Celine Dion ("Si Celine M'e?tait Conte?e"), Garou and Shazz.

In 2008, Laura produced a 50s style rock band called RockSpell. Alain Chenneviere (former french pop group Pow Wow) was the founder and leader. That same year she composed, co-wrote and produced Nadiya's latest single "No Future In The Past", a duet with Kelly Rowland (Destiny's Child) with Alain Chenneviere.

In 2009, Laura started working on her new album "Seule Et Sans Armes" ("Alone and unarmed) due to come out in 2013. Meanwhile, she offered a sober mini album featuring her piano and vocals called "Native Song Book, Volume 1", available since December 20th, 2011, which is her first release since 2002. After her return to the live scene opening for Boyz II Men at the Olympia (Paris), Kid Creole and The Coconuts at the Bataclan (Paris) and Earth Wind And Fire at the Trianon (Paris), she released her new single "Seule Et Sans Armes" in July 2012. She opened for Mick Hucknall at the Olympia (Paris) in March and continues touring in France.

She continued touring in France during the year 2013, including a concert in the french capital, at "Le Divan Du Monde" venue, then in New Caledonia.