Music: Angst with Sugar on It

Natalie Imbruglia topped Britain's charts. Today she's their hottest export since the Spice Girls

Before she launched her singing career two years ago, Natalie Imbruglia starred in an Australian soap opera called Neighbours, sort of a cheesy Melrose Place Down Under. When she grew tired of soaps, she moved on to London, met a record producer and released an album, Left of the Middle, that became a smash hit. When Left recently debuted in the U.S., it entered the charts at No. 10, outselling the new Pearl Jam album and beating the first-week sales of Alanis Morissette's 1995 debut, Jagged Little Pill.

Imbruglia (the g is silent), 23, is the most efficient pop product to...

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