Nelly Furtado
From WikiColdplay
Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2 1978) is a Juno Award-winning Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist.
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 after 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", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". Since then, Furtado has sold over fifteen million albums worldwide.Template:Fact
Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and nasal vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.
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Biography
Early years
Nelly Furtado was born in Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese immigrants from Azores, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado. She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.<ref name=ym/> Furtado first sang at the age of four when she performed a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day.<ref name=ym/> 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,<ref name=ym/> and as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.<ref name=rsjan01/>
The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs.<ref name=mtv> Template:Cite web </ref> At the end of the summer of 11th grade during a visit to Toronto, Furtado met Tallis Newkirk, member of the hip hop group, Crazy Cheese. She contributed vocals to their 1996 album, Join the Ranks, on the track "Waitin' 4 the Streets".<ref name=nelstar> Nelly also featured alongside Los Angeles-based Hip Hop group Jurassic 5, in their single "Thin Line", from the album Power In Numbers. Template:Cite web </ref> After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto. The following year, she formed Nelstar, the 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.<ref name=nelstar/> 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.<ref name=nelstar/><ref name=honeyjam>Template:Cite web </ref> 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.<ref name=mm/> 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!
Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, 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."<ref name=slant74> Template:Cite web </ref>
Motherhood
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.<ref name="blender"> Template:Cite web </ref> Nevis is ethnically a quarter Filipino, a quarter Indian, and half Portuguese.<ref name=rsjun06/>
2003–2005: Folklore
Furtado's second album, Folklore, was released in November 2003. The title was influenced by her parents' immigration to Canada.Template:Fact The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", was dedicated to her daughter. 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.<ref name=rs35794> Template:Cite web</ref> 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<ref name=folklore>
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</ref> 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.<ref name=blogcritics-20031112>
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2006-2007: Loose
Furtado's third album was released in June 2006. She named it Loose after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.<ref name=rsfeb06> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=usajuly06> Template:Cite web </ref> 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 pop single "Maneater". In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 80s music.<ref name=umusic> Template:Cite web</ref> She categorized the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral".<ref name=rsfeb06/> She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year old daughter.<ref name=umusic/>
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,<ref name=metacritic>Template:Cite web</ref> with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music,<ref name=musicomh>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=amgloose>Template:Cite web</ref> and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising."<ref name=guardian>Template:Cite web</ref> Some have labeled her a "sell out" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of hip hop and R&B,<ref name=blogcritics>Template:Cite web</ref> while others criticize her for having to "sex up" her music and appearance in order to sell more records.<ref name=villagevoice-critic>Template:Cite web</ref>
Furtado and Justin Timberlake are featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me".<ref> Template:Cite web </ref> This song became her third number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Her first number one single was "Promiscuous", followed by "Say It Right".
In late November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down US $500,000 to pose nude in Playboy.<ref name=Spanish> Template:Cite web</ref>
Furtado announced in December 2006 that she would record an all-Spanish album. As of April 2007, however, Furtado's plans have changed. During an interview with a member of the Canadian press, Furtado mentioned that her Latin album has, for the time being, been shelved (without further explanation). Template:Fact While she still hopes to release a full-length, Spanish-language project one day, she will, until then, re-release Loose in the United States (and possibly Latin America) with Spanish versions of "All Good Things (Come To An End)" "Try" and "In God's Hands," all of which she wrote and recorded with Julio Reyes. No release date for the new version of "Loose" has been given.[1]
On December 31, 2006, Furtado sang at a concert alongside Indian singers at Andheri Sports Centre in Mumbai, India, sponsored by Nokia. She performed "Say It Right" and "Promiscuous" (with Saukrates) on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live on February 23, 2007. On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked in Manchester on her Get Loose Tour. Furtado 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.<ref name=victoriapress>Template:Cite web</ref>
On April 1, 2007 Furtado was a performer and a host for 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.
In July 2006, Loose topped the UWC charts as the #1 album world wide, and after nine months it came back to the number one spot in April 2007.
Influences
During her teenage years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative rock, New Wave, alternative hip hop, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, and Indian music), and a variety of others.<ref name=ym/> Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Janet Jackson, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Oasis, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, Enya and Beck.<ref name=ym/><ref name=mm/>
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".<ref name=rsjun06>Template:Cite web</ref>
Toronto and experiencing musical diversity
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 fifteen and continues to discover new genres. On a 2006 Rolling Stone issue, she commented about her diverse taste:
Acting career
Furtado began acting in school plays in middle school. She appeared on the "Some Buried Bones" episode of CSI: NY as Ava Brandt, a master-thief and victim of domestic abuse. The episode also featured her songs "Maneater" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". She also guest starred on an episode of the day time soap opera, One Life to Live where she performed some of her songs in a local club.
Discography
Main article: Nelly Furtado discography. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
Studio Albums
- 2000: Whoa, Nelly!
- 2003: Folklore
- 2006: Loose
- 2007: 4th Studio Album
Singles
- 2000: "Party's Just Begun (Again)"
- 2000: "I'm Like a Bird"
- 2001: "Turn Off The Light"
- 2001: "...On the Radio"
- 2002: "Hey, Man!"
- 2002: "Trynna Finda Way"
- 2003: "Powerless (Say What You Want)"
- 2004: "Try"
- 2004: "Força"
- 2004: "Explode"
- 2005: "The Grass Is Green"
- 2006: "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland)
- 2006: "Maneater"
- 2006: "No Hay Igual" (featuring Calle 13)
- 2006: "Te Busqué" (featuring Juanes)
- 2006: "Say It Right"
- 2007: "All Good Things (Come to an End)"
- 2007: "Give It to Me" (Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake)
- 2007: "In God's Hands"
- 2007: "Crowd Control" (Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake)
Awards and nominations
- For a full list of awards and accolades, see List of Nelly Furtado awards and accolades.
See also
- List of Canadians
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
References
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