Biographic - Sunday August 13, 2006 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

The child of Portuguese immigrants, Nelly Kim Furtado was born in Canada, in Victoria, B.C. on December 2, 1978. Growing up, she learned trombone, ukulele, guitar, and keyboards, and played in a Portuguese marching band during her teens. She was still at school when, during a visit to Toronto, she met Talis Newkirk of hip-hop group Plains of Fascination and was invited to contribute vocals to Toronto and teamed up with Newkirk to form the short-lived duo Nelstar. She recorded some tracks with the production duo Track and Field, alias Jarvis church and Brian West of The Philosopher Kings. The resulting demo earned Nelly a recording contract with Dreamworks Records. Her debut album, "Whoa Nelly!" Co-produced by Church and West- was released in 2000. On the strength of the hit singles "I'm Like A Bird" and "Turn Off The Light" the album was a worldwide hit, selling six million copies and earning Nelly four Grammy nominations. (She won for best female pop vocal performance. In November of 2003, two months after the birth of her daughter, Nelly released her second album, "Folklore." Sales of the album were disappointing, although it produced two chart-topping singles in her native Canada and contained the song "Forca" the official anthem of the 2004 European soccer championships, which were held in Portugal. Nelly proudly performed the song at the tournament final in Lisbon. Signed to a new record label, Nelly returned to form with the album "Loose" produced for the most part by hip-hop star Timbaland, who also performed on the hit single "Promiscuous" the album quickly became the most stressful of her career, topping the charts in several countries, including the United States and Canada.

Tags