Nelly Furtado | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Nelly Kim Furtado |
Born | December 2, 1978 |
Origin | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Currently lives in Toronto, Canada |
Genre(s) | Pop, folk pop, R&B, dance-pop, hip hop, Trip Hop |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, actress |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, keyboards, ukulele, trombone |
Years active | 1996—present |
Label(s) | DreamWorks (2000—2005) Mosley / Geffen (2005—present) |
Associated acts | Timbaland, Juanes, Justin Timberlake, Dima Bilan, Missy Elliott |
Website | Official website |
Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress, 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" and "Say It Right".
Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, vocal styles and languages. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.[2][3]
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Nelly Furtado was born in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese parents, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, both immigrants from the Portuguese Azores archipelago. Her parents were born on São Miguel Island and immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.[4] Furtado has a strong connection with Portuguese culture. At age four she began performing and singing in Portuguese.[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 keyboards. 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]
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.[8]
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".[9] Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality,[10] but in August 2006, she stated that she was "straight, but very open-minded".[11] In November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down US$500,000 to pose fully-clothed in Playboy. Furtado said "I was offered half a million dollars to pose fully-clothed".[12]
In early 2007, the song "Fergalicious" caused controversy between Furtado and Fergie. In the lyrics, Fergie sings: "But I ain't promiscuous", which Furtado thought had referred to her successful single. Later, in the song "Give It to Me", Furtado wrote a verse, which she confirmed that a line[13] was directed at Fergie , "Seen you tryna switch it up but girl you ain't that dope". In a possible response to Furtado, Fergie sung a line in the song "Impacto (Remix)" that if "You got a problem, come and say it to my face". Recently, Furtado and Fergie ended their feud .
In July 2007, it was reported that Furtado is engaged to Cuban sound engineer, Demacio "Demo" Castellón. He worked with her on Loose.[14] On October 17, 2008, it was reported in People Magazine that Furtado and Castellón have been married since July 19, 2008.[15] Furtado confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that she married Castellón on July 19, 2008.
The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs.[16] 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".[17] 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.[17] 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.[17][18] 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.
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 Award 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".[19]
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".[20] According to Maclean's magazine, Whoa, Nelly! had sold five million copies worldwide as of August 2006.[21]
The song "Scared of You" has portions of the song in Portuguese, while "Onde Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese heritage. The International Release of "Whoa Nelly" featured fellow Canadian Esthero on the song titled "I Feel You".
In 2002, Furtado appeared on the song "Thin Line", on underground hip hop group Jurassic 5's album Power in Numbers. The same year, Furtado provided her vocals to the Paul Oakenfold's song "The Harder They Come" from the album "Bunkka" and also made the song " These words are my own".
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.[22] The lead single is "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and the second single is the ballad "Try". The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound,[23] as well as underpromotion from her label DreamWorks Records. DreamWorks had just been sold to Universal Music Group. In 2005, DreamWorks Records, along with many of its artists including Furtado, was absorbed into Geffen Records.
"Powerless (Say What You Want)]]" was later remixed, featuring Colombian rocker Juanes, who had previously worked with Furtado on his track "Fotografía" ("Photograph"). The two would collaborate again on "Te Busqué" ("I Looked for You"), a single from Furtado's 2006 album Loose.[24]
Furtado's third album, Loose, was released in June 2006. She named it after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.[25][26] Some have labeled her a "sellout" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favour of hip hop and R&B, while others have criticized her for attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records.[27][28] In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 1980s music.[29] Furtado herself describes the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral".[25] She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year-old daughter.[29] The album received generally positive reviews from critics,[30] with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music,[31][32] and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising".[33] Loose has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far, as it reached number one not only in Canada and the United States, but also several countries worldwide. Hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)" had Nelly top the charts and be a mainstay on radio. In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me",[34] 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 to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honour of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day.[35] After the tour, she released her first live DVD/CD named Loose the Concert.[36] 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. She also 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 July 2007, Furtado released the remix version of "Do It" which featured Missy Elliott.
In 2007, Nelly Furtado leaked plans to Flare regarding a song she was set to duet for Kylie Minogue's return. However, the song was not featured on her album X but Minogue says the aforementioned song "is still outstanding" and has plans to pursue it. She said "I am looking forward to getting in the studio and doing it because I know Nelly and I would have a great time together".[37]
In 2008 Furtado collaborated with James Morrison on a song called "Broken Strings" for his album "Songs for You, Truths for Me".[38] The single is to be released on December 8.[39]
She also collaborated with K'naan on a track called "Going Away".
During her pre-teenage to 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, Portishead, Janet Jackson, Oasis, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Björk, 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. | ” |
Furtado began acting in school plays in middle school. She guest starred in an 2001 episode of teen cult hit Roswell (TV Series).
With her resurgence after her Loose album, Furtado made many TV appearances. She starred as herself in hit Portuguese soap opera Floribella.[40] On US soap opera One Life to Live she performed some of her songs in a local club with Saukrates. She appeared on the episode "Some Buried Bones" of CSI: NY as Ava Brandt, a master-thief and victim of domestic abuse.
Furtado appeared in the movie adaptation of the video game Max Payne, released in October 2008. She portrayed Christa Balder, the wife of Alex Balder (Max Payne's best friend & partner). Although the movie was badly reviewed many critics stated that Furtado did a wonderful job, displaying much emotion in her role.
She had stated in an interviews on Planète Rap, a French radio station, that she has taken up acting classes when she is in Toronto and also had been working on a movie which has been postponed.[41]
For World AIDS Day in 2006, Furtado, Enrique Iglesias, Kanye West, Kelly Rowland, Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson teamed up with MTV, BET, and Nike to perform at an AIDS awareness concert in South Africa.[42] Furtado also hosted a program about AIDS on MTV, which also featured celebrity guests Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake.[43]
Studio albums
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Live albums
DVDs
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Year | Single | Peak positions[44][45] | Album | ||||||||
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U.S. | UK | EUR | CAN | POL | AUS | SWI | NZ | NOR | |||
2000 | "I'm like a Bird" | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 17 | Whoa, Nelly! |
2001 | "Turn off the Light" | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
2006 | "Promiscuous" (with Timbaland) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | Loose |
"Maneater" | 16 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||
"Say It Right" | 1 | 10* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
"All Good Things (Come to an End)" | 86 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 1 | ||
2007 | "Give It to Me" (with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 4 | Timbaland Presents Shock Value |
Total Number-one hits | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | — | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Year | Title | Role | Genre | Notes |
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2001 | Roswell | Herself | American Science fiction Television series[46] | Performed I'm like a Bird |
2006 | Floribella | Herself | Portuguese Soap Opera[47] | Performed Maneater |
2007 | One Life to Live | Herself | American Soap Opera[46] | Performed Say It Right and Promiscuous |
2007 | CSI: NY | Ava Brandt | American police procedural television series[46] | Played Ava a professional criminal accused of murder. |
2007 | Punk'd | Herself | American hidden camera practical joke television series[46] | A victim of a bomb scare |
2008 | Max Payne | Christa Balder | Video game adaptation[46] | The wife of Max Payne's slain ex-partner |
Year | Title | Award | Nominated work | Result |
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2001 | Grammy Awards | Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "I'm like a Bird" | Won |
Song of the Year | Nominated | |||
Best Pop Vocal Album | Whoa, Nelly! | Nominated | ||
Best New Artist | Nelly Furtado | Nominated | ||
2007 | Grammy Awards[48] | Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland) | Nominated |
BRIT Awards | International Female Solo Artist | Nelly Furtado | Won | |
Juno Awards[49] | Juno Fan Choice Award | Nelly Furtado | Won | |
Single of the Year | "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland) | Won | ||
Album of the Year | Loose | Won | ||
Artist of the Year | Nelly Furtado | Won | ||
Pop Album of the Year | Loose | Won | ||
MTV Europe Music Awards[50] | Best Solo Artist | Nelly Furtado | Nominated | |
Most Addictive Track | "All Good Things (Come to an End)" | Nominated | ||
Album of the Year | Loose | Won | ||
2008 | Grammy Awards | Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "Say It Right" | Nominated |
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | "Give It to Me" (Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake) | Nominated |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Macy Gray for "I Try" |
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance 2002 for "I'm like a Bird" |
Succeeded by Norah Jones for "Don't Know Why" |
Preceded by Madonna for Confessions on a Dance Floor |
BRIT Award for International Female Solo Artist 2007 for Loose |
Succeeded by Kylie Minogue for X |
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