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Nelly Furtado

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Nelly Furtado
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  • Born: 2 December 1978
  • Birthplace: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • Best Known As: Singer of "I'm Like A Bird"

Nelly Furtado's debut album Whoa Nelly! was released in 2000 and spawned the hit single "I'm Like A Bird." The album went platinum in sales and in 2001 Furtado won four Juno awards for excellence from the Canadian music industry. After releasing numerous remixes, singles, soundtrack cuts and collaborations, Furtado released the full-length CD Folklore in 2003. Furtado was born in Canada, though her parents are of Portuguese descent.

 
 
Artist: Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado

Born:
Dec 02, 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Representative Songs:

"I'm Like a Bird," "Promiscuous," "Maneater"

Representative Albums:

Whoa, Nelly!, Loose, Folklore

Similar Artists:

Followers:

  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Instrument: Producer, Vocals, Guitar (Acoustic)

Biography

Singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado heavily credits her ethnic background and childhood for spawning her creativity as a female and as an inspiring musician. Born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Furtado's working-class parents, who are of Portuguese descent, instilled a hardcore work ethic during her upbringing. She spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her housekeeping mother, quickly realizing what it meant to work for a living.

She turned to music for enjoyment, learning to play the guitar and the ukulele, and listened to mainstream R&B like Mariah Carey, TLC, Jodeci, Salt-N-Pepa, and Bell Biv DeVoe. Later, she delved into her older brother's collection of Radiohead, Pulp, Oasis, Portishead, the Verve, and U2, pushing Furtado to fully embrace different musical genres, specifically Brazilian music and material by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Amalia Rodrigues. Hip-hop was also a big catalyst in shaping Furtado's musical appreciation. After high school, she headed to Toronto where she worked at an alarm company by day and experienced the music scene by night. She joined a hip-hop duo, Nelstar, and this opportunity led Furtado back to her hip-hop influences of De La Soul and Digable Planets. This allowed her to get comfortable with writing her own melodies and freestyle rhymes.

When Furtado started cutting loose at a local Toronto club during the week, her musical aspirations began to swirl. Brian West and Gerald Eaton, of Canadian funk-pop group the Philosopher Kings, were instantly impressed by her strong sense of performing and asked to produce her demo. During those sessions, Furtado created some of the moving work that landed on her debut for Dreamworks, Whoa, Nelly!, released in fall 2000. A headlining tour of the U.S. in spring 2001 sparked more interest from fans and critics, and a spot on Moby's Area:One summer tour allowed singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light" to receive bigger praise. Furtado's greatest achievement followed a year later when she earned four Grammy nods, including Song of the Year for "I'm Like a Bird."

Folklore appeared in November 2003, nearly two months after Furtado gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Nevis. The record was a general disappointment, failing to capitalize on the success of her previous work. She didn't return to limelight until summer 2006, with her third record, Loose. Produced almost entirely by Timbaland and boasting a much more appealing and timely style, the album earned significant attention, putting Furtado's career back on the fast track. Lead track "Promiscuous" became an instant hit, earning her a number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Loose also topped the Billboard Top 200 album chart during its first week of release in later June 2006, becoming Furtado's first-ever number one album. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
 
Wikipedia: Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Furtado performing on her Get Loose Tour
Furtado performing on her Get Loose Tour
Background information
Birth name Nelly Kim Furtado
Born December 2 1978 (1978--) (age 28)
Victoria, British Columbia
Origin Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Genre(s) Pop, R&B, folk, hip hop, world
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, record producer, instrumentalist
Instrument(s) Singing, rapping, guitar, keyboard, ukulele, trombone
Years active 1996–present
Label(s) DreamWorks, Mosley Music Group, Geffen
Website NellyFurtado.com

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2 1978) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist, who also holds Portuguese citizenship.[1]

Furtado came to fame in 2000 with the release of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, which featured her breakthrough Grammy Award-winning single "I'm like a Bird". After becoming a mother and releasing the less commercially successful Folklore (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of Loose and its hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right", "All Good Things (Come to an End)", and "Do It."

Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.[2][3]

Life and music career

Early years

Audio samples:

Nelly Furtado was born in Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese immigrants from the Azores, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado.[4] She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.[2] Raised in a Roman Catholic home, Furtado first sang at the age of four when she performed a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. Although remaining unclear about her religious beliefs, she still affirms a belief in God, the Ten Commandments, and in avoiding the Seven Sins.[2][5] She began playing instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and, in later years, the guitar and keyboard. At the age of twelve, she began writing songs,[2] and as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.[4] Furtado has acknowledged her family as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, who was a housekeeper in Victoria.[6] She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.[2][7]

The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs.[8] During a visit to Toronto the summer after eleventh grade, Furtado met Tallis Newkirk, member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination. She contributed vocals to their 1996 album, Join the Ranks, on the track "Waitin' 4 the Streets".[9] After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto. The following year, she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip-hop style of the duo was "too segregated" and believed it did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability.[9] She left the group and planned to move back home.

Before moving, however, she performed at the 1997 Honey Jam, an "all-female urban" talent show.[9][10] Her performance attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton (aka Jarvis Church), who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo. She left Toronto, but returned again to record more material with Eaton and West. The material recorded during these sessions led to her 1999 record deal with DreamWorks Records.[3] Furtado's first single, "Party's Just Begun (Again)", was released that year on the Brokedown Palace: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

2000–2002: Whoa, Nelly! and early success

See also: Whoa, Nelly! and Burn in the Spotlight Tour
Audio samples:

Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, Whoa, Nelly! which was released in October 2000. Following the release of the album, Furtado headlined the Burn in the Spotlight Tour and also appeared on Moby's Area:One tour.

The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: "I'm like a Bird", "Turn off the Light", and "...On the Radio (Remember the Days)". It received four Grammy nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's work was also critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. Slant magazine called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of 'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music at the turn of the millennium."[11]

The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional music that's upbeat and hopeful."[12]. According to Maclean's magazine, Whoa, Nelly! had sold five million copies worldwide as of August 2006.[13]

The song "Scared of You" has portions of the song in Portuguese, while "Onde Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese heritage.

2003–2005: Folklore

See also: Folklore (album) and Come as You Are Tour

Furtado's second album, Folklore, was released in November 2003. The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", was dedicated to her daughter, Nevis. The album includes the single "Força" (meaning "strength" or "carry on" in Portuguese), the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed this song in Lisbon at the championship's final, in which the Portugal national team played.[14] Other singles included "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and the ballad "Try". The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound,[15] but also due to changes at DreamWorks Records. DreamWorks had just been sold to Universal Music Group. In 2005, DreamWorks Records, along with many of its artists including Furtado, were absorbed into Geffen Records.[16]

2006–present: Loose

See also: Loose (album) and Get Loose Tour
Audio samples:
  • "Promiscuous" (2006)
    noicon
    Nelly Furtado's lead single from her third and most successful album Loose and her first U.S. number-one single for 6 weeks
    "Say It Right" (2006)
    noicon
    Say It Right is Furtado's highest-peaking worldwide single with more than 7 million points.
    "Do It" (2007)
    noicon
    Several news sources reported that Timbaland plagiarized the synth line in "Do It" from an earlier track by Finnish demoscener Janne Suni.
  • Problems playing the files? See media help.
Furtado performing at Rock am Ring 2006.
Enlarge
Furtado performing at Rock am Ring 2006.

Furtado's third album was released in June 2006. She named it Loose after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.[17][18] In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 80s music.[19] She categorized the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral".[17] She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year old daughter.[19] Four lead singles were released in different regions of the world: the Spanish reggaeton-influenced "No Hay Igual" (featuring Calle 13), the hip-hop "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland), for which she won a 2006 Billboard Music Award for Pop Single of the Year, the Latin "Te Busqué" (featuring Juanes), and the dark pop single "Maneater". Loose has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far. It reached number-one in several countries including the United States and Canada, and it included the hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Te Busqué", "Say It Right", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". The album received generally positive reviews from critics,[20] with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music,[21][22] and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising."[23] Some have labeled her a "sell out" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of hip hop and R&B,[24] while others have criticized her for attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records.[25] Nonetheless, the album has fared well on the mainstream market, especially in Canada, where the album was certified 4x platinum in May 2007.[26] In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me",[27] which became her third number-one single in the U.S. and second in the UK. On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked on the Get Loose Tour. She returned in March 2007 to her hometown of Victoria, British Columbia to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honor of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day.[28] On April 1 2007, Furtado was a performer at and host of the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She won all five awards for which she was nominated, including "Album of the Year" and "Single of the Year". Furtado appeared on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London on July 1 2007, where she performed "Say It Right", "Maneater", and "I'm like a Bird". In 2007, Furtado, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake were featured on Lil Wayne's upcoming album Tha Carter III.[29] Furtado also appeared in the video for Nickelback's Rockstar. In September, 2007, MTV:Buzzworthy chose Furtado as the Artist of the Week, and gave an exclusive freestyle performance of "Going Away" with the Somalian-Canadian rapper K'naan.[30] On September 9, 2007, Furtado performed at the MTV Video Music Awards awards with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, where she sang Do It mixed with The Way I Are, LoveStoned and Give It to Me.

Personal life

On September 20 2003 in Toronto, Furtado gave birth to a daughter, Nevis, whose father is DJ Jasper Gahunia. Furtado and Gahunia, who had been good friends for several years, remained together for four years until their breakup in 2005. Furtado told Blender magazine that they continue to be good friends and jointly share responsibility of raising Nevis.[31] Nevis is ethnically a quarter Filipino, a quarter Asian Indian, and half Portuguese.[32]

In June 2006, in an interview with Genre magazine, when asked if she had "ever felt an attraction to women", Furtado replied "Absolutely. Women are beautiful and sexy." [33] Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality,[34] but in August 2006, she confirmed that she was "straight, but very open-minded". [35] In November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down US$500,000 to pose nude in Playboy.[36]

In July 2007, it was reported that Furtado is engaged to Cuban sound engineer, Demacio "Demo" Castellon, who worked with her on Loose.[37]

Influences

During her teenage years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative hip hop, drum and bass, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, and Indian music), and a variety of others.[2] Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Janet Jackson, Oasis, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Madonna, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, Enya, and Beck.[2][3]

Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Regarding Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of five and continues to discover new genres.

I always know there's a new genre left to discover. For me, it's like a metaphor for life. I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it's fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I'm always undergoing mind-opening.[32]

Acting career

Furtado began acting in school plays in middle school. She appeared on the episode "Some Buried Bones" of CSI: NY as Ava Brandt, a master-thief and victim of domestic abuse. She also guest starred on an episode of the day time soap opera One Life to Live, on which she performed some of her songs in a local club with Saukrates. Furtado participated in the hit Portuguese soap opera Floribella.

Discography

Number-one singles

Year Single Peak positions[38][39][40]
World U.S. UK EUR CAN POL AUS SPA SUI NZ
2000 "I'm like a Bird" 7 9 5 3 1 3 2 17 2
2001 "Turn off the Light" 3 5 4 3 7 3 7 2 1
2006 "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland) 4 1 3 2 1 2 2 1 6 1
"Maneater" 4 16 1 1 2 1 3 1 3 2
"Te Busqué" 47 1 79
"Say It Right" 2 1 10 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
"All Good Things (Come to an End)" 5 86 4 1 4 1 12 1 1 12
2007 "Give It to Me" (Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake) 3 1 1 2 1 1 16 2 6 2
Total number-one singles 3 2 3 4 4 5 2 3

Awards

References

  1. ^ http://www.lusomotores.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1179&Itemid=32
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Exclusive LAUNCH Artist Chat. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 28 May, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c Nelly Furtado Biography. MapleMusic. Retrieved on 27 May, 2006.
  4. ^ a b Furtado Goes Portuguese. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 27 May, 2006.
  5. ^ Fly Girl. Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ Nelly Furtado Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 27 May, 2006.
  7. ^ Fly Girl. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 16 Aug, 2001.
  8. ^ Shepherd, Julianne. How Nelly Furtado Got Her Ghetto Pass. MTV. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006.
  9. ^ a b c Nelstar* (Nelly Furtado) Biography. Nelstar-Project.com. Retrieved on 9 December, 2005.
  10. ^ Honey Jam Searches for Urban Women. ChartAttack (2003-05-27).
  11. ^ Whoa, Nelly!. Slant. Retrieved on 28 May, 2006.
  12. ^ Nelly Furtado Biography. MapleMusic. Retrieved on 27 May 2006.
  13. ^ Intini, John. "Nelly Furtado: 'I'm not Mother Teresa'". Maclean's. August 25 2006. Retrieved September 18 2006.
  14. ^ Nelly Furtado Gets Her Kicks. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 9 December, 2005.
  15. ^ Folklore. BBC. Retrieved on 28 May, 2006.
  16. ^ Universal Music Snags DreamWorks Records. Blogcritics.org. Retrieved on 29 May, 2006.
  17. ^ a b Nelly Furtado Brings the Punk-Hop. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 28 May, 2006.
  18. ^ Serious female singers harder to find on the charts. USA Today. Retrieved on 14 June, 2006.
  19. ^ a b Nelly Furtado :: Loose. umusic.ca. Retrieved on 21 June, 2006.
  20. ^ Loose by Nelly Furtado. Metacritic. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006.
  21. ^ Murphy, John. Nelly Furtado - Loose (Polydor). MusicOMH. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006.
  22. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Loose Review. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006.
  23. ^ Lynskey, Dorian. Nelly Furtado, Loose. Guardian Unlimited Arts. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006.
  24. ^ James Robert (2006-07-04). CD Review : Nelly Furtado Loose. BlogCritics Magazine.
  25. ^ Tom Breihan (2006-05-24). Nelly Furtado: Mutating Like Avian Flu. The Village Voice.
  26. ^ CRIA Gold and Platinum Certifications. Canadian Recording Industry Association (May 2007). Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
  27. ^ Timbaland Nabs 50 Cent, Dr. Dre For LP, Starts Timberlake Gossip Frenzy. MTV News. Retrieved on 1 December, 2006.
  28. ^ City of Victoria Press Release.
  29. ^ Shaheem Reid, Jayson Rodriguez and Rahman Dukes. "Lil Wayne Plans His Own Leak", MTV.com : Mixtape Monday, 2007-06-11.
  30. ^ http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2007/08/27/mtv-artist-of-the-week-nelly-furtado/
  31. ^ Nelly Furtado: Free As A Bird. Blender. Retrieved on 1 July, 2006.
  32. ^ a b Why Is Nelly Furtado's New Album So Loud?. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 1 July, 2006.
  33. ^ Nelly on the Loose!. Genre. Retrieved on 26 July, 2006.
  34. ^ Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.. AfterEllen. Retrieved on 26 July, 2006.
  35. ^ Furtado red-faced over loose tongue. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 11 August, 2006.
  36. ^ Nelly Embraces Her Roots with Spanish album. Dose. Retrieved on 6 January, 2007.
  37. ^ Nelly Furtado Engaged to Sound Engineer Boyfriend=People Magazine. Retrieved on 5 July, 2007.
  38. ^ Nelly Furtado: Billboard Singles
  39. ^ UK Top 40 Hit Database
  40. ^ United World Chart

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