Ultra Nate

Ultra Nate (originally from Baltimore) is a popular American house musician who is best known in her home country for her monsterous 1990s dance crossover smash, "Free", which features the memorable chorus "'cause you're free/ to do what you want to do/ you've got to live your life/ and do what you want to do". She is also remembered in America for her team-up with Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez on a 1999 cover of "If You Could Read My Mind", which was also a mainstream American hit. Though she has had club success in America, she has found the majority of her singles and, especially, album sales success in Europe.

Ultra Nate is noted for taking the opposite path than what most musicians take. She began her recording career on a major label, Warner Brothers. She found some American club success and European success there with a string of singles. However, when Warner Brothers tried to push her in a more R&B, less house, direction, Ultra Nate left the major label and fled to the independent dance label, Strictly Rhythm. It here that "Free", her biggest mainstream hit in America, was released in 1997. The song enjoyed heavy airplay throughout the rest of the millennium, not only in clubs, but on rhythmic and mainstream radio stations across the country. The song peaked at #75 on the Hot 100.

Ultra Nate has amassed five #1 hits, including "Free", on the Billboard club charts, between 1994 and 2001.