Home > Nelly Furtado

One of three children to Portuguese parents, Furtado learned to play trombone and ukulele at the age of nine, keyboard at 11, and began composing her own songs at 13. She then formed a trip-hop group called Nelstar , which allowed her to play eight dates on "the village stage" at Lilith Fair.

Some of her songs feature lyrics in Portuguese and Hindi.

Nelly also gave birth to a little girl named Nevis, on September 20, 2003.

On performing one night at Toronto nightclub Lee's Palace, Furtado hooked up with Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton. Eaton became an important collaborator, co-producing Furtado's debut album, Whoa, Nelly! , when she signed with DreamWorks.

Her style, described by Toronto Sun writer Jane Stevenson as a cross between Macy GrayMacy Gray (born Natalie McIntyre September 6, 1970) is an American neo-soul R&B singer from Canton, Ohio. Her career began after moving to Los Angeles in University of Southern California's screenwriting program, also penning lyrics for a friend's songs. and Ivana SantilliIvana Santilli is a Canadian R&B singer, who has recorded both as a solo artist and as a member of the 1990s R&B/pop combo Bass is Base. Her debut album, Brown was released in 1999. In 2004, she followed up with Corduroy Boogie''. Santilli, Ivana Santilli, incorporates popDepending on context, pop music is either an abbreviation of popular music or, more recently, a term for a sub- genre of it. The subgenre of pop is perhaps the most widely crowd-pleasing form of all popular music. The defining musical characteristics of t, trip-hop, bossa novaBossa nova is a style of Brazilian music invented in the late 1950s by a group of middle-class students and musicians living in the Copacabana and Ipanema beachside districts of Rio de Janeiro. The name is translated as "the new beat" or "the new way"., soulThis page is about the core essence of a being. For the music genre, see soul music; for the chief city of South Korea see Seoul. The soul in several philosophical movements and many religious traditions, is the core essence of a being. In some traditions, R&B, hip-hop and folkFolk music in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. Folk music arose, and best survives, in societies not yet affected by mass communication and the commercialization of culture. It normally was shared and performed by the entire, and was a result of her urge to move beyond the kinds of music that had always emotionally moved her. She has mentioned Cornershop, Beck and Finley Quaye as factors in her sound.

Before her record deal, her music was slighty gloomy, along the lines of Portishead and Radiohead. After awhile, she tired of all her songs being depressing. She has been quoted that: "...then I realized good music does not have to be sad, it can be poppy and wonderful and fun, and that's the kind of record I want to make."

Her second album, Folklore, was released in 2003, which included Força (Force), the official anthem of Euro 2004.

She has also been associated with the band Swollen Members who are old friends from British Columbia.