Nelly Furtado

Multi platinum global superstar Nelly Furtado, was born in Victoria, Canada, to a tight-knit working-class Portuguese family. Nelly was raised within a culturally rich environment, infused with her Latin roots. All that cultural immersion helped her develop a unique identity and start a prosperous musical career when she moved to Toronto right after finishing high school. She started to write her own songs when she joined the hip-hop duo Nelstar, but her wings really started expanding in preparation for the big flight when musicians Brian West and Gerard Eaton (The Philosopher Kings), decided to record a demo of Nelly’s songs that ended up on the desks of a Multinational record label, quickly realizing the potential of the then teenager and released her first album, Whoa, Nelly!, in 2000.

Singles “I’m Like a Bird” and “Turn Off the Light,” were the base of an album that reached multi-platinum status and snagged an impressive four Grammy nominations in 2002. Nelly ended up taking home the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “I’m Like a Bird.”

Her second album, Folklore, was released on November 2003, an album that for many, displays her best vocals and her most eclectic sounds with songs like “Powerless (Say What You Want)”, the ballad “Try” or “Força”, which became the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship.

She waited three years to reinvent herself releasing Loose in 2006, an imminently danceable album produced almost in its entirety by beats genius Timbaland, who, under Nelly’s inspiration, created an energizing and irresistible mix of pop, R&B, and super danceable hip-hop. Loose zoomed to the top of the charts and earned Nelly five Juno Awards, including Album of the Year Single of the Year with “Promiscuous”, single that also got her to the #1 spot at the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2009, Nelly Furtado came back with a fourth record carefully and meticulously produced in Spanish. “The world is changing,” she says, “and after 10 years recording in English, I hit a wall. I felt this was the moment to make the dream of doing an album completely in Spanish, and releasing it worldwide come true.” Certified Platinum, Mi Plan is a light record, sensible but fun, written and co-produced by Furtado who shared most of the creative process with Cuban singer-songwriter, Alex Cuba. The album includes collaborations from Top artists Juan Luis Guerra, Josh Groban, Concha Buika, Alejandro Fernandez, Julieta Venegas and Mala Rodriguez.

Mi Plan debuted at #1 on Billboard's “Top Latin Albums” chart, making it the highest debut of 2009 for a Latin Pop album, and it also debuted at #1 on both the iTunes and Amazon Latin music charts. The first single, “Manos al Aire”, held the #1 position on the "Hot Latin Songs" chart for fourth consecutive weeks. Mi Plan has recently received a Latin Gammy nomination for “Best Female Pop Vocal Album”.