Sorry Jacko!

Cascada thrilled to be No1 but sad to beat Michael.

BRIT POP: Natalie reckons she's more English than German

By John Earls, 19/07/2009

HOGGING the British No1 spot for two weeks hasn't given rave band Cascada as big a high as they thought it would.

Mixed in with the euphoria is guilt that their single Evacuate The Dancefloor has kept Michael Jackson from the top.

The German trio said they were so upset by the music legend's death that they didn't really feel like celebrating their own success.

Stunning singer Natalie Horler, 27, tells Rated: "We had a bottle of champagne and a couple of bottles of wine when we found out we'd made No1.

"But we raised a toast to Michael too, because I'm a huge fan.

"It's been a really weird time. Of course, it's my dream to be at No1 in Britain, especially because my parents are British.

"But, as a Michael fan, I understood why his fans probably hated us for denying him the No1 with Man In The Mirror."

Natalie's dad David is a jazz musician who played trombone in a band fronted by Quincy Jones - the man who produced Jacko's best-known albums Thriller and Bad.

And Natalie says: "When I was a teenager, my dad got Quincy to sign Michael's Dangerous CD for me.

"It was my prize possession for years. I burst into tears when I heard Michael had died. We were in Bulgaria after doing a TV show, and a Cascada dancer phoned me from his hotel room. I went to his room, and we spent the night crying, watching the news."

Natalie was born in Germany and has lived there all her life - her parents emigrated from Southampton before she was born.

But she says she feels more English than German, and the band - who met in Bonn in 2004 and also include writer/producers Yannou Pfeiffer and DJ Manian - are more European than anything else.

They have already sold four million albums worldwide and had top ten hit singles in Britain with Everytime We Touch and What Hurts The Most. Their third album, also called Evacuate the Dancefloor, is out now.

Natalie explains: "I consider myself English. Me and my sister went to a German-speaking school and we're totally bilingual but I'm more in touch with British culture. Everyone jokes about how bad German music is, making out that we worship David Hasselhoff's pop songs.

"It doesn't bother me, because I don't think Cascada are a German band, we're just international.

"And Germany actually has a good track record for dance music - The Love Parade festival in Berlin is like the Glastonbury of rave.

Fallback

"It's only in Britain that people tease us. In America, it's like we're from another world, not Germany. They love us over there - 'You're all the way from Europe? My gaaaad!' They're fascinated by us."

Britain also seems increasingly fascinated by Cascada. Last year Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley announced the band was set to work with Coldplay, at Chris Martin's request. But Natalie laughs that off. "I don't know where that came from!

"It certainly wasn't us that said it. I like Coldplay, but our music is so different it'd be pretty bad if we tried working together. I can't imagine Chris Martin liking our dance beats. Justin Timberlake - now, I'd like to work with him.

"He's so innovative in his music and so cool. He's the complete package."

Natalie also has dreams and ambitions for when her pop days are over. She recently made her debut as a TV presenter, fronting a dance music show in Canada, and says: "I reckon I was pretty good.

"I see TV as my fallback career - when I don't want to go out raving any more and I'm too old to dance because of a dodgy hip!"

Natalie also wants to be a fashion guru and launch her own clothes range one day.

She says: "The big trend in dance is for ravers to wear arm-warmers. I was way ahead of my time, I wore those when I was 18, and in neon yellow too.

"I have to be a little more careful now I'm older, but I wore some pretty outrageous outfits when I was younger.

"I'd love to take that look onto the high street - for girls who don't pay attention to what others think!"