Biography authored by rememberthedays.de
Nelly Kim Furtado was born December 2, 1978 in Victoria/Canada. At the age of nine she already knew how to play the trombone and the ukulele. At 13 she yet played her first songs on the keyboard. Little after she formed the trip-hop band Nelstar.
At the age of 18 her talent was discovered during her performance with Gerald Eaton, lead singer of the “Philosopher Kings” at the Canadian talent festival “Honey Jam Festival” at Lee’s Palace. Later Gerald Eaton has also been the co-producer of her debut album which dropped under the name “Whoa, Nelly!” in the United States on October 24, 2000. The album went Gold in Germany as well. When she released “Folklore” in 2004, she really boosted her popularity in Germany and surely is a “Superstar” by now. The music and lyrics seem to be more mature than her debut album. A reason for that might have been the fact, that she was pregnant with her daughter Nevis while recording the album.
With the release of “Folkore” Nelly Furtado gained so many new fans in Germany, that all of her concerts were completely sols out. On top of that, the single “The Gras is Green” has exclusively been released for her German fans. In May 2006 her third album “Loose” has been released. On this record she has worked with many other artists, developing herself musically further once again.
Currently Nelly Furtado lives in Toronto (Canada). Next to playing many instruments, she also speaks two languages (Portuguese nad English) fluently. Her music style is difficult to describe since it is a mixture of trip hop, r’n'b and pop blended with Brazilian and Portuguese rhythms. She writes her own songs, and therefore differing from many other artists. Even at an early age, she’s already dreamed of having a band and travelling by bus from town to town. She herself especially likes hip hop, but other artists like Radiohead, Madonna, the Verve, U2, Oasis, Pulp, Garbage or TLC as well. Though her biggest inspirations come from Bob Marley, Lionel Ritchie, Madonna, Paula Abdul or Salt’N'Pepa. Her first tape ever, which she’d gotten from a friend on her 12th birthday, has been an album by Mariah Carey. At the age of 13 she bought herself her own TLC record. During her high school years she began to listen to her brother’s records, forming her musical taste for the most part. At 16 she took a big step regarding her vocals, when she spent some time in Portugal doing a lot of spontaneous Fado singing. She also took part in a freestyle hip hop contest, in which she had to rap on impulse. She sings whatever crosses her mind – apparently successful. Later on she got into Brazilian music, when she heard her father listening to it.
At present she’s happy with what she’s accomplished so far – feeling great after several years in the music industry. She likes going to concerts of her favorite bands; not liking driving around all night to get from one gig to the next one, seeing everything negatively and getting depressed though.
“I have no choice. It is my fate to make music!”