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