At the tender age of 20, Nelly Furtado had her first “real” performance, after signing her record deal in 2001. “I performed at the Lilith Fair, and during the encore all the performers of the day came back on stage to sing [Bob Dylan's] ‘I Shall Be Released’. Suddenly I stood there with Chrissie Hynde, Sarah McLachlan and Beth Orton”, she still remembers unbelievingly. “It was a dream come true! The wohle time I thought: ‘What am I doing here between all these superstars?’”
A comprehensible question for a young artist growing up in the far away Victoria, B.C. as the daughter of Portuguese parents. Though being still so young and just having done her first steps on the career ladder, she already possesses a solid musical background. Proven not only by her ability to play several instruments (guitar, ukulele, trombone) and sing in different languages (English, Portuguese, Hindi), but also by her debut album “Whoa, Nelly!” – with its mixture of divers sounds being just as intoxicating and unique as Nelly Furtado is.
The latest chapter of Nelly’s history started, when she entered the stage at the age of 18 to sing in front of mostly black females at a talent show in Toronto. That’s when she met her future manager (amongst others being responsible for the multi-platinum selling artists The Philosopher Kings) and only shortly after the Kings members Gerald Eaton and Brian West recorded a demo for Nelly. A great demo indeed, but unfortunately it wasn’t the right time since Nelly was highly intented on doing a backpacking tour through Europe – studying “creative writing” afterwards.
Though she did keep in touch with Eaton and West, who asked her to return to Toronto several times. Furtado remembers: “I watched the Philosopher Kings both times they’d played in Victoria and both times they’d asked me to come to Toronto to record demos with them”. But I’ve been so indecisive the whole time: ‘Ah, I’m still going to school, I want to write, I’m learning how to play the guitar – blah blah blah.’ Then one day Gerald phoned me and prompted me: ‘Come to Toronto – now!’ Well, I didn’t really have no other choice than going to him – and I stayed for two weeks. It was incredible. The three of us matched so well. Gerald and Brian are so fascinating – smart and charismatic… It’s great to be able to work with them. They’ve created the most creative environment that I could’ve possibly imagined.”
The material that the three of them created during these sessions gave her the opportunity to sign her first record deal with DreamWorks Records. Eaton and West (also known as Track and Field) got into it as her co-producers. With them a capable team – needed to produce a record like “Whoa, Nelly!” – had been formed.
This great and amazing diversity of different influences somehow also mixed up with the music of her ancestors’ home – Portugal. At the age of 16 she traveled through Portugal and experienced something truly amazing: “I went to that club, directly onto the stage and started to sing – just the words that crossed my mind. That actually is the true meaning of hip hop – the freestyling. In Portugal there’s something totally similar which is called ‘cancoes desafios’ there – meaning something like ‘spontaneous singing’. You’re trying to provoke the other person on stage saying he/she is lazy or something like that. All this happens in real slang and you really have to speak the language well to understand everything correctly.”
Nelly started to sing at a very young age – influenced by her mother, who sang in the church choir. “I remember hiding behind the couch and eavesdropping on my mother as she prepared for big festivals and practiced songs with other women. That’s why I sang a duet with my mother in front of 300 people at the age of 4. Even back then I knew that I really enjoy singing in front of an audience,” she recalls.
But the temporal music has always been present in Nelly’s life as well. “There was this record player in my parents’ bedroom,” she says. “I liked sitting there listening to the album ‘Glass Houses’ by Billy Joel over and over again.” And the trombone which Furtado played in her school’s marching, jazz and concert band. Next to that she and her friends tried to copy the dance steps they had seen in Janet Jackson’s videos.
Nelly Furtado made her first real experiences as a singer and at recordings when she did the backup vocals at her friends’ hip hop band at 16. A year later she became a member of the experimental trip hop duo Nelstar in Toronto – she wrote the melodies and the producer contributed the beats.
However Nelly wanted more. Though she was able to write great melodies, she was really annoyed that she could not compose real songs. That’s why she started to learn how to play the guitar. “During my school days she’s already played the ukulele, so I thought – two more strings? It can’t be that hard after all.” No sooner said than done – and so she started to bring her song-writing to perfection. “I loved Jeff Buckley, he had a great influence on my song-writing and my singing, as well as Amalia Rodrigues and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.”
“While I was recording my album I’ve just been so inspired by the Cornershop album ‘When I Was Born For The Seventh Time’. It was trendy, but at the same time a great mixture of pop music and Indian elements. I had really been taken with this mixture. Just like Beck’s ‘Odelay’, which had a similar effect on me. Very creative, a full rich sound, very integer and somehow not melancholic at all. These two albums brought me to record a pop album containing Portuguese and Brazilian elements and transporting happiness at the same time. I love the challenge to make music full of feelings and emotions sounding fresh, impulsive and full of hope at the same time – just like Cornershop, Beck and Bob Marley have done it.”
An intention Furtado transfers to her live shows as well: “I just don’t feel like saying negative things on stage and getting upset about it afterwards. I’ve once watched a show of one of my favorite bands – Radiohead – and I couldn’t help thinking: ‘Erm, could you do this every night?’ How can they agonize themselves in such a way every night? That’s also the reason why I’m liking Beck’s performances so much. He gives you the feeling that you can groove every night – every day there’s a party on stage. I’d love to achieve that. I want to spread love – not tears. Unless they’re tears of joy.”
At present Nelly Furtado is right in the middle of putting exactly these intentions into reality. “I cannot wait to tour again,” Nelly says. “This is what I’ve been waiting for my wohle life, this is what I’ve been working for. I’ve always dreamed of having my own band, driving around in a bus to the next city – to the next performance.” With her album “Whoa, Nelly!” Nelly Furtado had more than enough opportunities to do so.
2003 – after receiving several awards like the Grammy, 4 nominations, the Juno award and the ASCAP award the young Canadian dedicated herself to her new album. Furtado realized that her new song material was a lot different than on her last album. “I think I’ve simply matured” she says. “On many songs on the last record I’ve still been a teenager. At that time I just wrote and doodled straight on without having any life experience. Musically Furtado is as adventurous as always with the freedom of hip hop, the weakness for flashy US pop as well as the creaky guitar rock she grew up with. Although she still keeps her passion for folk and the flair of international styles.