Nelly Furtado

1978年12月，Nelly Furtado出生在加拿大英属Columbia区。虽然是在加拿大长大，但Nelly Furtado的父母都是葡萄牙后裔。Nelly Furtado的父母都是普通的工人，而她自己甚至也当过八年的服务生。Nelly Furtado从小就非常喜欢音乐，爱听玛丽亚·凯丽（Mariah Carey）和TLC组合等主流R＆B音乐。同时，Nelly还自学了吉他和夏威夷四弦琴。之后，Nelly又迷上了哥哥收藏的Radiohead，Oasis，Portishead，the Verve和U2等乐队的音乐。对不同音乐类型的喜好也为她日后个人音乐风格的多样化埋下了伏笔。
在中学毕业之后，Nelly Furtado来到了多伦多，白天在一家警报器公司工作，下班后的时间就到处去看音乐演出。Nelly Furtado还加入了当地一个hip-hop组合Nelstar，这给了她个人创作歌曲的机会。随后，Nelly开始在多伦多一个小俱乐部里演出，她的音乐才华也开始得到越来越多人的认可。一次，加拿大乐队The Philosopher Kings的两位成员Brian West和Gerald Eaton在看到Nelly Furtado的表演之后立即被她所吸引，并主动提出要为Nelly制作小样。在The Philosopher Kings成员的协助之下，Nelly Furtado成功与Dreamworks签约并在2000年秋发行首张个人专辑《Whoa, Nelly!》。2001年初，为了宣传《Whoa, Nelly!》，Nelly在美国举行了一次巡演，得到评论界和歌迷的一致好评。专辑中的单曲《I'm Like a Bird》和《Turn Off the Light》一时间成为歌迷们谈论的焦点。Nelly Furtado获得2001年第44届格莱美奖的四项提名，最终凭借《I'm Like a Bird》获得当年的最佳流行女歌手奖。
2003年9月，Nelly Furtado女儿Nevis诞生。11月，Nelly的第二张个人专辑《Folklore》正式发行。但《Folklore》是令人失望的一张专辑，发行后仅排在Billboard 200专辑榜的第38位，而且整张专辑中都没有一首像《I'm Like a Bird》一样的热门单曲。2006年6月，在两年半之后，Nelly Furtado带着她的第三张专辑《Loose》重返歌坛。《Loose》在发行首周的销量达到21万9千张，另Nelly轻松得到了她第一个Billboard 200专辑榜的冠军。Timbaland不仅一人几乎包揽了本张专辑的制作，而且他与Nelly合唱的单曲《Promiscuous》也成为各国排行榜中点播率很高的热门单曲，最终在《Loose》上榜的第二天在Billboard Hot 100单曲榜中夺冠。
Singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado heavily credits her ethnic background and childhood for spawning her creativity as a female and as an inspiring musician. Born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Furtado's working-class parents, who are of Portuguese descent, instilled a hardcore work ethic during her upbringing. She spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her housekeeping mother, quickly realizing what it meant to work for a living.
She turned to music for enjoyment, learning to play the guitar and the ukulele, and listened to mainstream R&B like Mariah Carey, TLC, Jodeci, Salt-N-Pepa, and Bell Biv DeVoe. Later, she delved into her older brother's collection of Radiohead, Pulp, Oasis, Portishead, the Verve, and U2, pushing Furtado to fully embrace different musical genres, specifically Brazilian music and material by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Amalia Rodrigues. Hip-hop was also a big catalyst in shaping Furtado's musical appreciation. After high school, she headed to Toronto where she worked at an alarm company by day and experienced the music scene by night. She joined a hip-hop duo, Nelstar, and this opportunity led Furtado back to her hip-hop influences of De La Soul and Digable Planets. This allowed her to get comfortable with writing her own melodies and freestyle rhymes.
When Furtado started cutting loose at a local Toronto club during the week, her musical aspirations began to swirl. Brian West and Gerald Eaton, of Canadian funk-pop group the Philosopher Kings, were instantly impressed by her strong sense of performing and asked to produce her demo. During those sessions, Furtado created some of the moving work that landed on her debut for Dreamworks, Whoa, Nelly!, released in fall 2000. A headlining tour of the U.S. in spring 2001 sparked more interest from fans and critics, and a spot on Moby's Area:One summer tour allowed singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light" to receive bigger praise. Furtado's greatest achievement followed a year later when she earned four Grammy nods, including Song of the Year for "I'm Like a Bird."
Folklore appeared in November 2003, nearly two months after Furtado gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Nevis. The record was a general disappointment, failing to capitalize on the success of her previous work. She didn't return to limelight until summer 2006, with her third record, Loose. Produced almost entirely by Timbaland and boasting a much more appealing and timely style, the album earned significant attention, putting Furtado's career back on the fast track. Lead track "Promiscuous" became an instant hit, earning her a number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Loose also topped the Billboard Top 200 album chart during its first week of release in later June 2006, becoming Furtado's first-ever number one album.