Nelly Kim Furtado was born on 2 December 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, of Portuguese parents, António José Furtado and Maria Manuela Furtado. At age four she began performing and singing in Portuguese, and her first public performance was when she sang a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. She began playing musical instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and in later years, the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12 she began writing songs, and after graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto to reside with her sister. There she met Tallis Newkirk, a member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination, and she contributed vocals to their 1996 album 'Join The Ranks', on the track 'Waitin' 4 The Streets', and the following year she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip hop style of the duo did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability, so she left the group and planned to move back home. In 1997 a performance at the Honey Jam talent show attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton, who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo, which was shopped around, and this led to her signing to DreamWorks Records in 1999, with her first single, 'Party's Just Begun (Again)', being released that year from the soundtrack album for the 1999 film 'Brokedown Palace'. Furtado continued her collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, 'Whoa, Nelly!', which was released in October 2000. The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: 'I'm Like A Bird', 'Turn Off the Light', and '...On the Radio (Remember the Days)', and it received four Grammy nominations in 2002. Furtado's work was critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds, and the sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures.
Following appearances with Jurassic 5, Paul Oakenfield, and Colombian artist Juanes, she released her second album 'Folklore' in November 2003, which included the single 'Força', which was the official anthem of the UEFA Euro 2004. The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound, but also due to underpromotion from her label, as DreamWorks Records had just been sold to Universal Music Group. Her third album 'Loose' came out in June 2006, and for this record she experimented with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 1980's music, with the record receiving generally positive reviews from critics. 'Loose' has become her most successful album so far, producing her first number-one hit in the United States with 'Promiscuous', as well as her first number-one hit in the United Kingdom with 'Maneater'. Her fourth album was a Spanish language record, with 'Mi Plan' being released on her own record label Nelstar, in conjunction with Canadian independent label group Last Gang Labels, winning her the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. Her fifth studio album 'Lifestyle' was to be a collaboation with producers Timbaland and Ryan Tedder, and was scheduled for release in May 2010, but for unknown reasons it was shelved. It was first replaced with the greatest hits compilation 'The Best Of Nelly Furtado', and then later with a revamped version of the record, re-titled 'The Spirit Indestructible', and with some of the tracks intended for 'Lifestyle', such as 'Skylight', 'Soak It Up', 'Cry', and 'Play', appearing in different countries on their issues of 'The Spirit Indestructible'. Other tracks have since leaked, and so we can now hear Furtado's original vision for the album, including a possible lead single in 'Girlfriend In The City', which was produced by Saalam Remi.
Track listing
01 Night Is Young
02 No Regrets
03 Time Stand Still
04 Soak It Up
05 Play
06 Stars
07 Girlfriend In This City
08 Cry
09 Skylight
10 Red Balloons
11 Morning After Dark by Timbaland (feat. Nelly Furtado & SoShy)
12 Hot 'n' Fun by N.E.R.D. (feat. Nelly Furtado)
13 Who Wants to Be Alone by Tiësto (feat. Nelly Furtado)
