Nelly Furtado biography, Детальна інформація

Like her music or not, you'll appreciate the refreshing break from Britney

Spears and Christina Aguilera.

personality & talent

Nelly Furtado is one of those people that probably walks around carrying a smiley face stamp so that she can mark everyone who is down in the dumps and make them as content as she is. Her upbeat and tempo-filled album translates to her performances on stage, where she performs like she's having a party in her bedroom with her walkman on (except there are no New

Kids On The Block posters, and thousands of people are watching).

She writes her own songs, which always scores big points with us, and she's able to sing in English, Portuguese and Hindi. She was inspired by Beck, which isn't a bad thing because Beck always delivers original material. Her other major influence, Portishead, is obviously inherent in her music

(sometimes you think you have the wrong album on). Other times you'd think you were listening to Erykah Badu or Macy Gray, two women no one would mind being compared to (at least musically, what's up with Macy Gray's Welcome

Back Kotter afro anyway?).

sexiness

Nelly is a beautiful girl, it doesn't take much of a genius to realize that. Why else would she have done magazine spreads before having released only one song? Her skillful naughtiness plays right into the hands of men everywhere who say they want a nice girl, but really want a woman who will whip them into submission (or is it the other way around?).

accomplishments & fame

She was asked to appear for 4 tour dates with Lilith Fair in 1999, which helped catch the album a studio label. Though it took a while for her talent to be recognized in the US, she has had much success in her two home countries of Canada and Portugal.

The good news for her though, is that she has Dreamworks backing her, and they hate to lose money on their investment, so look for them to cross- promote across their huge distribution network.

natural beauty

Her easy smile and contagious laugh only add to her natural beauty. If she was always seemingly depressed like Fiona Apple, her appeal ratio would drop faster than Charlie Sheen's pants. Keep that sorriso (smile) going

Nelly.

personal style

Nelly's personal style crosses two fields. Sometimes she looks like an extra in a hip-hop music video, and other times she looks like a back-up singer for the Indigo Girls or Sarah McLachlan. She has the hip-hop, urban, lost hippie look going. Let's call it the "Nelly" style; "Cher" style it isn't.

We like her. We wish she remains a big star and hope she always remembers the little people (yes, that's us).

« ME ON ME »

I am impressed when music matters, when genres are broken, when spirits are lifted, when people make a difference, and when people are true to themselves. I am impressed by: Leonard Cohen, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Nusrat

Fateh Ali Khan, Woodstock, Free Tibet, free shows for tens of thousands,

Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, De La Soul, good films, visual art, Andy Warhol, jazz, improvisational anything, artists who I watch perform and they bring me to tears, Jeff Buckley, going to a rave, writing poetry about the city, tripping out on a good book, traveling to a foreign city and not knowing anybody...the list goes on and on.

I have always been in awe of nature and all things innovative. Although I grew up in Victoria, B.C, a mere suburb of a city, I know what independence is, I know what soul is and I know what God is. I know what it feels like to sing on the top of a mountain as if God is pumping Abraham straight into me from heaven. I was performing in both Portuguese and English by age four, and playing ukulele and trombone through ages nine to eighteen. I played the trombone in a jazz band, concert band and marching band, and sang and danced in musicals.

I've seen lots and grown lots in my short life span. I have been the bully,

I have been bullied, been insecure, been precocious, been lost, been found again, been praised, been heralded, been shamed and been alone. I am not sheltered and I have never been, although family is very important to me. I am quite street smart and my pain often fuels my passion, but more often my spirit does. I aspire, like anyone, to do great things with my life. I want to be Jack Kerouac, Mona Lisa, Ghandi and Mother Theresa all at the same time. I want to inspire people but not in a cheap way. There is an artist in me. I see art everywhere I walk. I believe I was born to sing and to create music that emotionally connects. I was born to document the way I see the world and the experiences I've had in it.

Considering my musical heritage it seems inevitable that I would pursue this musical dream. In S. Miguel, Azores, my late Portuguese grandfather played several instruments. His brother, my great-uncle, was a famed marching band score composer or 'maestro' in his village who today remains somewhat of a legend to the towns people. To this day, even after his death, hundreds of his musical scores remain under lock and key in his basement despite several attempts to confiscate them by local music-lovers.

My mother sings in the church choir and my father also enjoys casual singing and has a deep interest in the Portuguese style of music 'fado', or

'fate'. These Portuguese elements and influences are very much a part of what I like to call my 'musical hardrive'.

I received my first tape recorder at age eight - I sang into the microphone and recorded songs myself. I received a keyboard with a built in scratch effect at age eleven. I was writing rhymes at age fourteen but that was a phase which only lasted a couple of months because the hip-hop culture looked so appealing to me then.