Power Beat

Sugababes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:05:00 +0000

History

One Touch

Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena were childhood friends since they were eight, who eventually met Siobhan Donaghy at a 1998 party when they were thirteen, and decided to form a band. Through Siobhan, they met their manager who unofficially called the band by the name Subababies, the nickname of Keisha and Mutya. At fourteen, they were offered a record contract from London Records, and started calling themselves the Sugababes.

The first debut single "Overload" made the UK Top 10 and was nominated for a Brit Award. The song also reached number 3 in the Germany and number 2 in New Zealand. The group wrote some of the tracks on One Touch, and had help of All Saints producer Cameron McVey. Their debut album produced three more top 40 hits in the UK - "New Year", "Run for Cover" and "Soul Sound". The album eventually peaked at number 26 on the UK Album Charts (the album fared better in Germany where it peaked at number however the sales of One Touch did not meet London Records' expectations, and it led to them dropping the band in 2001. During a Japanese tour Siobhan Donaghy left the band stating initially that she wanted to pursue a fashion career, eventually being diagnosed with clinical depression amid reports of in-fighting between the Sugababes members.

Angels With Dirty Faces

Heidi Range was announced as Donaghy's replacement in 2001, a founding member of Atomic Kitten, and the trio signed a new record contract with Island Records. Their first single on the new label, "Freak Like Me", was produced by Richard X -- where the Sugababes recorded the song in Richard X's own flat. The song used a sample from "Are Friends Electric?" by Gary Numan's Tubeway Army, with the girls performing lyrics taken from Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me". The video featured a dark setting, showing Heidi's introduction into the band, debuting at number one in the UK and number two in Ireland in 2002; making their first ever top spot in the UK. Their second single with Range, "Round Round", produced by Kent-based production group, Xenomania, was the group's second UK number one single and reached number two in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

On the back of these hits, Sugababes' second album Angels With Dirty Faces debuted at number two on the UK album chart and was a success across Europe. The third single from the album, a ballad entitled "Stronger" gained the girls their third straight top 10 hit in their native country. The B-side "Angels With Dirty Faces", was the main theme to the The Powerpuff Girls Movie. The fourth single "Shape," which samples the Sting track, "Shape Of My Heart," made number eleven in the UK and had moderate success in Netherlands and Ireland in early 2003. The B-side featured a live version of "Freak Like Me" when they performed at the 2003 Brit Awards, where they won the award for "Best British Dance Act". Their success also led to a song that had not been included on the album, entitled "Party In The Club", being used as the main song to ITV's teenaged drama show Girls In Love, based on the book of the same name by Jacqueline Wilson.

Three

The group's third album Three was released in late 2003 and continued success reaching number three on the UK Album Chart, preceded by the Xenomania produced "Hole In The Head". It was the band's third UK number one single and their first number one in Denmark. It reached number two in Ireland, Netherlands and Norway, and also became the babes' first single to chart in the official Billboard charts peaking at #96 and hit the US Billboard Dance Chart at #1. The second single "Too Lost In You," which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Love Actually and was written by Diane Warren, went top ten in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway, as well as going top ten on both sides of the Straits of Taiwan (Taiwan and China). The song was originally recorded in French by Patricia Kaas and entitled "Quand J'ai Peur De Tout" . The album's third single, "In The Middle," released in 2004, went to number 8 in the UK. The fourth single to be released from "Three" was the ballad, "Caught In A Moment," gave the girls another top 10 hit, peaking at number 8, backed by tracks recorded from their Sessions@AOL appearance.

In 2004, the trio joined acts such as Coldplay's Chris Martin, Dido and Robbie Williams on a 2004 version of the 1984 Band Aid's orginial "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which in December went to number 1 in the UK and sold over 200,000 copies in it's first week. The charity single which all the money raised went toward famine relief in the Darfur region of Sudan.

After a break from the music industry, whilst recording their fourth album, Mutya announced she and her boyfriend Jay, were expecting a child. Their daughter named Tahlia Maya Buena, was born in March 2005.

The group later gave their first performance for over a year at the Edinburgh Live 8 concert. In this time, the girls had been recording their fourth album, working with variety of songwriters and producers, including USA producer, Dallas Austin.

Taller In More Ways

On 2 October 2005 the Dallas Austin produced "Push The Button" debuted at number one in the UK singles chart, giving the girls their fourth number one single and first Irish number one single. The song was later nominated at the Brit Awards for 'Best British Single'. The single also went number one in Austria and New Zealand.

On 16 October 2005, Taller In More Ways became the band's first UK number one album. On that same date, the girls celebrated being number one in the singles, album, airplay, and download charts at the same time. Taller In More Ways saw the band work with Guy Sigsworth, Brian Higgins, Xenomania, and Cameron McVey among others.

Following an apparent illness, that prevented Buena from promoting the follow up single "Ugly", it was announced on 21 December 2005 that Buena had left Sugababes. According to an announcement on their site, "Mutya's decision was based purely on personal reasons and she will continue to remain the best of friends with both Keisha and Heidi". The last remaining orginial member Keisha Buchanan upon Buena's departure "...we will all miss Mutya, but we also knew there was still a place for bringing in somebody new who could help us carry on taking the Sugababes brand of music forward".

Amelle Berrabah took over in late December. Before joining the Sugababes, Amelle featured in the band 'Boo2' with her sister Samiya. The third single was a re-recorded version of "Red Dress" which was released in early 2006 gave the group a third consecutive top 5 hit from the album entering the UK singles chart at number four. Amelle also re-recorded tracks from Taller In More Ways for a re-release of the album. Amelle's vocals appear on 4 tracks including the bonus track; Mutya's vocals remain on the rest of the album. In early 2006, Taller In More Ways earned a Platinum Award from the IFPI in recognition of over 1 million copies sold in Europe. In April 2006, the girls won "Best World Group" at the ESKA Music Awards 2006 in Poland. The final single from Taller In More Ways was "Follow Me Home", released in mid-2006. Despite the song featuring new vocals from Amelle, "Follow Me Home" charted at number thirty-two - the lowest position to date for a Sugababes single.

Overloaded: The Singles Collection

The Sugababes returned to the recording studio to start work on their fifth studio album, entitled Overloaded: The Singles Collection. The lead single from the compilation, "Easy," was co-written by George Astario and Jason Pebworth from Californian band Orson. "Easy" was released, prior to the hits compilation album, and peaked at number eight in the UK Single Charts. Unfortunately, the single failed to make a significant impact and fell quickly out of the chart.

The singles compilation was released 13 November 2006, peaking at number 3 on the album charts in the UK. The compilation contains tracks from One Touch to Taller In More Ways, excluding tracks "New Year", "Soul Sound", "Angels With Dirty Faces", and "Follow Me Home", most of which were not released outside of the UK. A separate DVD was also released, featuring 14 of their music videos and karaoke versions, as well as a special deluxe digital download version featuring live performances, a special digital download remix collection, entitled Overloaded: The Remix Collection, and a Napster Live Session, featuring acoustic versions of four of their hits and their cover of Primal Scream's hit, "Rocks".

It was believed that Good To Be Gone would be released as the 2nd single from this album. However, this has been put into doubt following confirmation of a new single in March.

Sugababes will team up with fellow U.K. girl band, Girls Aloud, to cover the classic hit, "Walk This Way" - originally a hit for Aerosmith in the 1970's and then again upon collaboration with Run DMC in 1986. The track will be released in March 2007 as the official single for the 2007 Comic Relief fundraising.

Easy

Follow Me Home

Push The Button

Stronger

Too Lost In You

Akon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:40:00 +0000

Career

Akon grew up in Senegal until he was seven, and his family eventually settled in Jersey City, New Jersey. He attended Snyder High School. There he discovered a liking to hip hop for the first time, as well as crime. His first song was entitled "Operations Of Nature," sung when he was 15 years old. Then he was jailed for armed robbery and possible drug charges, but he used this time to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble June 2004. The album is an interesting hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats.

His debut album included the singles "Locked Up," "Lonely," "Bananza (Belly Dancer)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto." "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top 5 in the UK, and was written after Akon served time in jail for grand theft auto. His manager Robert Montanez was gunned to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top 10 on the U.S. charts, and was #1 in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to #1 in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over 15 weeks. It was finally beaten by James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". Recently, he gained more popularity after being featured in the song "Soul Survivor" with rapper Young Jeezy. He also has his own record label, called Konvict Muzik, thus reason for his famous trademark at the beginning of his songs of the clank of a prison cell while uttering the words.

Akon's sophomore album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Styles P and Konvict Muzik label-mates Brick and Lace. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem from the album, as well as a notable new track featuring Styles P, "All My Life", released on a mixtape. The video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. Konvicted debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 285,000 copies.

On the week of October 5, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as Akon achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" featuring Eminem, which rocketed from 95-7. The song's monstrous leap is fueled by its No. 6 debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 copies sold. The 88-spot jump bests the 86-4 move by Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, and Andrew Seeley's "Breaking Free" in February.

Akon has recently has been spending a lot of time in interview promoting Chilli from TLC who recently signed with Akon's Kon Live Distribution label to release her debut album. The untitled album due sometime in mid 2007 includes production from Missy Elliott, T-Pain, Timbaland, will.i.am and Akon himself. As well as a guest appearance form groupmate, T-Boz. He recently appeared on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's unreleased song titled "Never Forget Me," which will be on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's new album, titled Strength and Loyalty. Akon has also done production work for the upcoming album. It will be released in December 19, 2006.

He has recently been featured in Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" from her latest album '"The Sweet Escape." The album also features production from him as well. It is scheduled to be released on December 5, 2006. He performed on Saturday Night Live on December 10, 2006.

Akon's Smack That was recently nominated for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

While performing at a show in Nigeria on December 15, 2006 with L.L Cool James, Akon's white belt was stolen when he jumped into the crowd.

Akon Ft Eminem - Smack That

Ghetto

Belly Dancer

Don't Let Up

Lonely

PussyCat Dolls

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:02:00 +0000

Biography

1993–2003: Dance troupe beginnings

Some sources claim that Robin Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe in 1993 with her friend Linh le and Christina Applegate (both friends since high school); the troupe's first performance was in 1995. During this period they performed with numerous guest vocalists (see list below), with a repertoire of '50s and '60s pop standards, performed in lingerie and/or old-fashioned pin-up costumes.

They secured a Thursday night residency at Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995–2001. In June 1999 Playboy ran a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, featuring at least contemporary members Kasey Campbell, Kiva Dawson, Erica Gudis and Lindsley Allen. In 2002 they moved to The Roxy. The group became internationally popular and was featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and movies. Some of the Dolls appeared in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle dancing to the Pink Panther theme.

Carmen Electra was the group's lead performer for many of their shows. She said "I was part of the Dolls for two years and did every show with them...but financially, I couldn't become part of their new music project...It was a financial sacrifice I couldn't make."She did however make a cameo appearance in the music video for "Don't Cha".

With the involvement of music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, the troupe was re-cast, transformed into an R&B recording group, and signed up as employees of Iovine's label Interscope Records.

2003-present: Music career

In 2003, Nicole Scherzinger, a former member of Popstars winners Eden's Crush, became the group's lead singer. The present members of the group are Scherzinger; Carmit Bachar (who joined in 1995); Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts (who joined in 2001); Jessica Sutta (who joined in 2002); and Melody Thornton, (who joined in 2003). They opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004.

In September and October 2004 the soundtrack CDs for the films Shark Tale and Shall We Dance? were released, each containing one track by the Dolls. "Sway" from Shall We Dance? also became their first single and first music video.

In 2005, The Pussycat Dolls released their debut album PCD. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, selling about 100,000 copies. It has produced seven singles. Their second single "Don't Cha" (with Busta Rhymes) became their first major hit. The follow-up, "Stickwitu", became the group's first U.S. # 1 Billboard Pop Radio hit. It went on to sell well over 3 million digital downloads and cd's in the world and became their second #1 single in a row in the UK. The third single, "Beep", featured Black Eyed Peas lead rapper will.i.am. They recently released their latest single, "Buttons", featuring Snoop Dogg which followed in the success of the previous singles and went straight into the top 3 on the UK singles chart, #3. The group's final single has been confirmed as the high tempo, club track "Wait A Minute" and was released on August 2006, in the United States,"I Don't Need a Man" will be released in Canada (The video was premiered on MuchOnDemand September 14th, 2006) , the UK and Ireland and "Sway" will be released as the 5th single in Continental Europe. The 5th single in Australia and New Zealand is also "I Don't Need A Man".

The Pussycat Dolls are proving to be a recognised female group as MTV Hits (UK) marks them as #1 in Top 10 Female Groups (July 2006) beating #2 Destiny's Child and #7 Spice Girls. Furthermore, securing #1 in VH1's (UK) 'Top 20 Sexiest' #2 in TMF's Ultimate 20 Women in Pop (August 2006) and #6 in TMF's Girls of R&B countdown.

The group won a Billboard Music Award for "Don't Cha" as Top Hot/Dance Club Play Single of the Year. The song was also nominated for Top-Selling Single of the Year and Top-Selling Dance Single of the Year.

At the SXSW music conference in 2006, Interscope lawyer Darryl Franklin said, during a panel discussion, that the contract with the group is unique in that its members are actually salaried employees of the record label and, by design, completely interchangeable. This means that in addition to CD sales, the label also controls merchandise, web sites and all other commercial aspects of the group and their income, excluding song publishing.

In 2006, San Francisco-based company Doppelganger (along with Interscope Records) launched the PCD Music Lounge, an interactive website.

On June 30th's VSpot Top 20 Countdown, host Matt Pinfield announced that Scherzinger has written twelve new songs for the follow-up album to 2005's PCD. The Dolls reportedly aim to start recording their Double The Trouble, to be released in late 2007.

In late 2006, The Pussycat Dolls were also featured in a commercial for Cingular Wireless along with Ludacris.

Scherzinger is working on a solo album, reportedly due for release in 2007. She has publicly stated that although she is releasing a solo album, she is not leaving The Pussycat Dolls. Her first single is set for release in February and her album soon after.

On December 7, 2006 the group received a Grammy nomination in the Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group category for their hit "Stickwitu".

Buttons

Beep

Don't Cha

Wait A Minute

I Don't Need A Man

Sean Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:38:00 +0000

Musical career

Dancehall music was Sean Paul's first love, and he became proficient at crafting rhythm tracks. He became a deejay after writing his own songs, basing his style largely on the works of Super Cat and Don Yute. The latter was later to become his idol and mentor. Sean Paul was closely connected to the reggae-pop band Third World. His brother, Jason 'Jigzag' Henriques, and his best friend Zameer Masjedee helped him open up business connections. Sean Paul released his debut single "Baby Girl (Don't Cry)" with producer Jeremy Harding in 1996. It proved a significant success, and led to further Jamaican hits like "Nah Get No Bly (One More Try)," "Deport Them," "Excite Me," "Infiltrate," and "Hackle Mi."

In 1999, Sean Paul started to attract audiences in the United States. He was commissioned to collaborate with fellow dancehall hitmaker Mr. Vegas on a production for rapper DMX, entitled "Top Shotter". The song went on to be included in the film Belly (dir. Hype Williams). Paul also recorded the Jamaican chart-topper "Ladies Man" with rapper Spanner Banner, through the latter's label, Sweet Angel Productions. The success of "Ladies Man" resulted in Sean Paul being approached by the then little-known Harding, who burst on the scene with his production of Beenie Man's crossover hit "Who Am I" and most famously recorded "Baby Girl (Don't Cry)" with Sean Paul. The following single, "Infiltrate," joined the singer's combination hit in the Jamaican top charts. Also that year, Paul scored a top ten hit on the Billboard Rap chart with "Hot Gal Today," which quickly became his signature tune. Sean Paul fell out very publicly with Mr. Vegas over the packaging of Vegas' remix of "Hot Gal Today," but this did not slow Sean Paul's career momentum.

In March 2000, Paul released his first album, Stage One, on VP Records, which included many of his previous hit singles and compilation cuts, plus several new tracks. He played the Summer Jam 2000 in New York City, where he was held in high acclaim. Sean Paul's fanbase grew tremendously with fans from all over the world. Also in 2000, Sean Paul appeared on the Toronto-based Baby Blue Soundcrew album, Private Party Collectors Edition. He appeared on its first single, "Money Jane", which also featured Kardinal Offishall, and Jully Black.

In 2002, he announced the release of his second album, Dutty Rock. Pushed by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and the Billboard Hot 100 topper, "Get Busy," the album was a worldwide success, eventually selling over six million copies. Simultaneously, Sean Paul was heard on Beyoncé's single "Baby Boy" and Blu Cantrell's "Breathe," both chart hits in 2003, and helping to push his reputation further still in the United States.

He then appeared on Punk'd, 106 & Park, Sean Paul Respect, Making The Video (Get Busy, Gimme The Light, Like Glue, We Be Burnin' and Temperature) and his music videos have been broadcast on MTV and BET. Paul's biggest hits include Get Busy, Gimme The Light, Baby Boy, Temperature, and Give It Up To Me (feat. Keyshia Cole). On September 27, 2005, Henriques released his third album called The Trinity.

Sean Paul spent part of 2006 opening for Mariah Carey's Adventures of Mimi Tour; his stage patter during these shows was almost exclusively directed towards "all the sexy young ladies in the house." The Trinity was a solid success sold about 3.8 million copies worldwide.

Sean Paul started work on his fourth album in September 2006 and currently features on the single "Break it Off" (High Altitude Riddim) with Rihanna, on her A Girl Like Me album.

He is currently nominated for four awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards including Male artist of the year, Rap artist of the year, Hot 100 single of the year, and Pop single of the year for his hit Temperature.

Give It Up To Me

Get Busy

Never Gonna Be The Same

Ever Blazing

Temperature

We Be Burnin

Breathe

Nelly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 20:04:00 +0000

Music career

Nelly first came to mainstream audiences with the song, "Country Grammar" (2000) and released Free City with the St. Lunatics in 2001. Country Grammar established him as one of the most successful rappers of the early 2000s with the help of an image one part handsome boy-next-door and one part tough gangster. From the beginning of his hip hop career, the lyrics of "Country Grammar" explored this dichotomy, posing the question: "Who says pretty boys can't be wild niggaz?" and containing references to gun violence and drug use while also sending shout outs to billionaires Bill Gates and Donald Trump, as well as fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. The album Country Grammar, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 40. Nelly and Country Grammar were nominated for two 2001 Grammy Awards--Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance. On July 18, 2001, it was certified 7x platinum. "Ride Wit Me", off the Country Grammar album, was nominated for three 2001 MTV Video Music Awards--Best Male Video, Best Rap Video, and Viewer's Choice; the album won the Best Rap Video award. Nelly was also named "Best New Artist" at the 1st Annual BET Awards in 2001. Other recognitions in 2001 include winning the Favorite New Male Artist award at the 2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and being named one of People's "Breakthrough Stars of 2001".

In 2002, his second album, Nellyville, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 714,000+ units. It stayed at #1 for 3 weeks. After only a month, it was certified triple platinum. Hot in Herre was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks, followed immediately by "Dilemma", featuring Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child, which was #1 for 10 weeks. "Dilemma" was the first ever rap song to stay at #1 for 10 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002 he also won the American Music Award for "Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist", as well as winning 6 Billboard Music Awards (Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Male Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Male R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, Rap Artist of the Year, and Rap Track of the Year for "Hot in Herre") and receiving nominations in 8 other categories.

In early 2003, Nelly released the controversial single, "Air Force Ones". MTV, MTV2, MuchMusic, and VH1 refused to air the video due to product placement for Nike's popular sneakers of the same name. BET, however, played it. (Nike and Nelly agreed on a 1-year deal in 2003 to release a limited-edition sneaker called the "Air Derrty" which was a retro remake of Charles Barkley's signature sneaker the Nike Air Max2 CB '94 which was released on June 13, 2003 at select NIKE town stores. Limited to 1,000 pairs.) He later made a deal with Reebok, stating, “I’ve always been into sneakers and throughout my career I’ve always wanted to have a signature pair of sneakers that truly reflect my personal style…It made the most sense for me to partner with Reebok because they fully understand and respect the culture of sports, music and entertainment.”

In 2003, Nelly received two Grammys for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and shared a Grammy with Kelly Rowland for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, and he also won the 2003 American Music Award for "Fan's Choice" and received 4 other nominations.

In the following year, 2004, Nelly won his third Grammy for Murphy Lee's number-one hit single "Shake Ya Tailfeather" from the Murphy's Law CD. Shake Ya Tailfeather featured Nelly & P. Diddy. On September 14, 2004, Nelly released two albums simultaneously, Sweat and Suit. Suit, an R&B-oriented album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, and Sweat, a rap-oriented album, debuted at #2 on the same week. From the Suit album, the slow ballad "Over and Over", an unlikely duet with country music star Tim McGraw, became another crossover hit. Nelly performed the song with McGraw on the latter's CBS Television concert special in 2004. In 2005, he scored another #1 hit with "Grillz".

Nelly's entire song catalogue - including hits he has co-written with Tim McGraw and 'N Sync - is published by BMG Music Publishing.

Nelly feuded with rapper KRS-One. During the feud, Nelly used the angle that KRS-One was past his prime. KRS-One called Nelly out for being a bubble gum pop artist, which Nelly fired back by calling KRS a hypocrite. This feud was even referenced by rapper Chino XL in his song "B-Boy." In it, Chino XL states "Nelly battling KRS-One, we gotta stop him! What's next? Beyonce battling Rakim?"

In 2006, Nelly had his fourth number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with his duet with Janet Jackson on "Call on Me".

Hot In Here

My Place

Ride With Me

Nelly Ft. Tim McGraw - Over And Over

Dilemma

50 Cent

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:37:00 +0000

Biography

Early life

Curtis James Jackson III grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Raised without a father, 50's mother, whose name carried weight in the street was found dead under mysterious circumstances before he could hit his teens. The orphaned youth was taken in by his grandparents, who provided for 50. But his desire for things would drive him to the block. Which in his case was the infamous New York Avenue, now known as Guy R. Brewer Blvd. There, 50 stepped up to get his rep up, amassing a small fortune and a lengthy rap sheet. But the birth of his son put things in perspective for the post adolescent, and 50 began to pursue rap seriously ass.

Jam Master Jay Records

Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC detected talent in the rapper and signed him to his label, for a brief time. His first official appearance on a song was on the group Onyx song, "React", off their album "Shut 'Em Down" in 1998. Jam Master Jay began learning teaching 50 how to make a record. hello kitty taught him to count bars and structure songs. 50 later left the label because of JMJ's hetict schedule and couldn't make time to work with the reapper.

Columbia Records

After leaving Jam Master Jay, the platinum hitmakers Trackmasters took notice of 50 and signed him to Columbia Records in 1999. They shipped 50 to Upstate NY where they locked him up in the studio for 2 1/2 weeks. He turned out 36 songs in this short period, which resulted in "Power Of A Dollar," an unreleased masterpiece that Blaze Magazine judged a classic. His career took off after the release of the successful, but controversial single "How to Rob" playfully painted him as a deliriously hungry up-and-comer daydreaming of robbing famous rappers. But 50 and the fans were the only ones laughing. Unable to take a joke, Jay-Z, Big Pun, Sticky Fingaz, and Ghostface Killah all replied to the song. "It wasn't personal. The next single, "Ghetto Qur'an", led to a feud with a drug kingpin known as Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, founder of a gang known as the "Supreme Team." The song goes in depth about the business of the drug trade and exposed the names of many in the business. The debut album Power of the Dollar was shelved due to the controversies surrounding the rapper, and also led to the infamous shooting and feuds with numerous rappers affiliated with McGriff.

Aftemath of Shooting

In April 2000, three days before filming his video with Destiny's Child for the song "Thug Luv", 50 Cent was shot 9 times, including a 9mm bullet to the face, in front of his grandmother's house in Queens, New York. He spent the next few months in recovery while Columbia Records dropped him from the label. After his recovery, 50 Cent returned to the recording studio, despite having no income or backing, with his new business partner and friend Sha Money XL. The two recorded over 30 songs, strictly for mix tapes, with the soul purpose of building a buzz. 50 Cent's street value rose and by the end of the spring 2001 he released the new material independently on the makeshift LP, Guess Who's Back?. Beginning to attract interest, and now backed by his crew, G-Unit, 50 Cent stayed on his grind and made more songs. But it was different this time. Rather than create new songs as they had before, 50 decided to showcase his hit-making ability by retouching first-class beats which had already been used. They released the red, white and blue bootleg, "50 Cent Is the Future," revisiting material by Jay-Z and even Rapheal Saadiq. That's when the unbelievable happened, and hip-hop history was written. The energetic CD caught the ear of Eminem, and within a week Eminem was on the radio saying, "50 Cent is my favorite rapper right now." Eminem looked to mentor Dr. Dre to confirm his belief in the young hitmaker, and the good doctor co-signed. Floored by the appreciation of the greats, 50 Cent didn't hesitate in signing with the dream team.

Shady/Aftermath

After getting sign to a one million dollar deal, 50 quickly released another bootleg of borrowed beats, "No Mercy, No Fear." The CD featured only one new track, "Wanksta," which was certainly not intended for radio, but the streets couldn't wait for the official single and within weeks "Wanksta" became New York's most requested record. The track was put on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack, 50 Cent had become the most sought rapper after newcomer in almost a decade. 50 Cent also help XXL Magazine becoming the most successful hip hop magazine with the issue of Money, Power, Respect. In December 31 50 Cent arrested in Manhattan for two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. In Da Club was released in 2002, it became 50 Cent's first number-one single in the United States; it also reached number three in the United Kingdom. Arbitron radio ratings estimated that at some point during the second week of March 2003, 200 million people had listened to some or all of the song, and billboard magazine called it the most listen song in radio history.

Release of Debut Album

On Febuaray 6 2003, 50 Cent released the highly anticipated album Get Rich or Die Tryin. It topped the Billboard 200 Album chart for 6 weeks and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 8 weeks selling over 872,000 copies in its first week of release in the US a shorter release week than usual after the release date was pushed up to stop bootlegging and downloading. 50 Cent later went on the Rock The Mic Tour with Jay-Z in June. It became the number one selling album of 2003 selling over 6.5 million records in the U.S and the number one single with In Da Club. He released 5 singles Wanksta, In Da Club, Many Men (Wish Death) (Which was not shown on B.E.T. or MTV due to the video strong violent graphic) 21 Questions, and P.I.M.P.. 50 Cent also had the Top Music Video Sales title of the year with The New Breed. The album was nominated for 5 Grammy Awards but 50 didn't win one.

Just A Little Bit

Pimp

In The Club

The Game Ft. 50 Cent - Hate It Or Love It

Candy Shop

Black Eyed Peas

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:36:00 +0000

Origins and early albums

The Black Eyed Peas dates back to 1989 when will.i.am (Born: William Adams) and Apl.de.ap (Born: Allan Pineda) began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller (Eazy-E's manager). Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group's music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E died of an AIDS related illness in 1995, Atban Klann reformed the group as Black Eyed Peas, named because, as Adams explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album, "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul." Adams has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence and said he named his band after a food, like them. They replaced their original third member with Taboo (Born: Jaime Gomez). In 1996, they produced (and appeared on) a song entitled "That's Right" for Brian Austin Green's Hip-Hop album One Stop Carnival. Later, they began having Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the "gangsta rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-'90s, they performed in the local club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.

The group were signed to Interscope Records and released their debut, Behind the Front (see 1998 in music) in 1998. Following which, the group (and their accompanying live band) earned critical acclaim. The single from the album was "Joints and Jam", and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000's Bridging the Gap (see 2000 in music), which featured the single "Request + Line" featuring Macy Gray.

Elephunk

Their breakout album, Elephunk, was released in 2003. It was the group's first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, previously a cast member of Kids Incorporated and a member of teen pop band Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000. Though Hill was a backup vocalist, Fergie is recognized as a member of the group and is widely believed to be responsible for the Black Eyed Peas' commercial success.

From Elephunk came the anti-war anthem "Where is the Love?" (possible protest against the Iraq war which began the same year the song was released), featuring an uncredited Justin Timberlake, which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The single also had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for 6 weeks also. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at #2 in the UK and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany, as well as Australia, holding on to the #1 spot for 3 weeks there. Elephunk won worldwide success and went gold and platinum in the US, UK, Germany and other European markets. The third single from the album, although significantly restyled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the Australia, UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the US. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the first iPod silhouette TV commercials.

During Black Eyed Peas' concert tour in Asia in 2004, Apl.de.ap's life story was featured in a weekly Filipino TV drama special called Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, back then when he was teased as "baluga" (a derogatory word for Negro), before parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. "The Apl Song", with the chorus written in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines, from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the song "Balita", an original composition of the 1970s Phlipino folk rock group Asin. The group produced an exclusive video of the song whose distribution coincided with their tour of the Philippines as part of their album promotion.

The Black Eyed Peas' song "Let's Get Retarded" was restyled as "Let's Get It Started" for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial. The song was quite successful on the charts worldwide, peaking at #21 on the US Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and at #2 in Australia. New, less offensive lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme in place of the original's theme dealing with getting heavily intoxicated and partying. This spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service. The song earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The Black Eyed Peas were then featured in The Urbz: Sims in the City videogame as characters. They re-recorded "Let's Get it Started" and "Shut Up" as well as other songs in "Simlish", the dialect language used by 'The Sims' characters, for the game also.

Monkey Business

Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on the Black Eyed Peas/N.E.R.D. tour of 2004. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk with My Heart", was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached the highest peak yet of their career and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The song also reached three in the UK, and five in Canada, and stayed at number one for three weeks in Australia. (Some radio stations, skittish about complaints of obscenity, play an alternative version, "Don't Mess with My Heart".) "Don't Lie", the second single from the album, saw success on the US Hot 100, reaching #14, although becoming somewhat more successful in the UK and Australia, reaching a peak of #6 in both countries. "My Humps", another song from the album, immediately achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play despite the sexually suggestive lyrics; also reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; for example, John Bush, writing for All Music Guide, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium". Despite this, the album Monkey Business itself debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week and was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Their next and last single from the album was "Pump It", which featured a fast beat. It received continuous radio play for a few weeks, but soon died off. The song is based around an extensive sample of Dick Dale's early 60's surf guitar classic "Misirlou" (originally a Greek folk song), which is also popularly known as one of the songs featured during the opening credits of the film Pulp Fiction. As well as being a hip-hop album, Monkey Business also features some acoustic guitar playing from Jack Johnson in the single, "Gone Going".

In September 2005, The Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Originals playlist of their greatest hits, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The playlist includes popular songs such as "Don't Lie", "Shut Up", and a new version of "Where Is the Love?". It also has small stories containing info and commentary about the songs and how the group first met.

On November 27, 2005, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the half-time show at the Canadian Football League's 93rd Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On December 10, 2005, a Peas cover of the John Lennon classic "Power to the People", which was mostly recorded on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, was released by Amnesty International as part of the Make Some Noise campaign to celebrate human rights. The same day, The Black Eyes Peas performed their version live on the UK television program The Record of the Year together with John Legend and Mary J. Blige.

Black Eyed Peas established the Pea Pod Foundation to help suffering children around the world. The foundation is administered through the Entertainment Industry Foundation. On February 6, 2006, at a concert in Hollywood, California to benefit the foundation, the band was joined by Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, Erykah Badu, John Legend, and other stars.

On March 21, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, entitled "Renegotiations: The Remixes" to iTunes. It features remixed versions of Ba Bump, My Style, Feel It, Disco Club, They Don't Want Music, Audio Delite at Low Fidelity, and the standard version and video of Like That. The following week it was released on CD without the music video. Participants on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor.

Already having produced the bulk of the Peas' albums, will.i.am has begun his solo career in earnest by producing and collaborating with a variety of musicians, among them Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, John Legend, Nelly Furtado and Nas.

Fergie's solo album

On September 19, 2006, Fergie released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, on which she collaborated with will.i.am on selected tracks like "Fergalicious" and the whole group on the album-closer "Get Your Hands Up". She is still planning on recording and touring with the band.

2006 tours

In April 2006, The Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th annual Honda Civic Tour with supporting bands Flipsyde and The Pussycat Dolls. They again brought the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on the tour with them to craft new songs for Fergie's solo debut album. The Black Eyed Peas also had their first European tour in which they performed in front of audiences in Ireland, Britain, Italy and Germany; they also performed in Israel.

On July 31, 2006 during their Bangkok, Thailand and final tour stop in Asia, The Black Eyed Peas dedicated "Where Is the Love?" to the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the world, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

Currently, The Black Eyed Peas are touring Canada. Recently, The Black Eyed Peas have starred in a series of web shorts for Snickers called Instant Def. In these shorts they star as a group of hip-hop superheroes.

The Peapod Foundation

A Free Sunday concert in May in South Africa with The Black Eyed Peas launched the Peapod Foundation. All tickets were previously handed out to the public through an SMS campaign and ticket giveaways to ensure that people who wouldn't ordinarily have a chance to afford the concert could see the band perform.

will.i.am producer

William Adams is one of the best producers of this century. He has been producing artists like Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Nas, Pussycat Dolls, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Kelis and many others.

New album

will.i.am has been quoted as saying that a new Black Eyed Peas album will be released around Christmas of 2007. No other information on the new project has been revealed yet.

My Humps

Fergie - Fergalicious

Fergie - London Bridge

Bebot

Shut Up

Sergio Mendes Feat. Black Eyed Peas - Mas Que Nada

Justin Timberlake

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:06:00 +0000

Biography

Early life

Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Randall Timberlake and Lynn Harless. His paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister, but Timberlake considers himself more "spiritual than religious". His parents are now divorced and both have remarried; his mother, who now runs an entertainment company called JustinTime Entertainment, has remarried to Paul Harless, a banker, while his father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan and Stephen, from his second marriage.

Timberlake grew up in Millington, a small town just north of Memphis. In 1993, he got his first taste of fame when he joined the ranks of The Mickey Mouse Club. There he met future girlfriend and pop superstar Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera and, perhaps most importantly, future bandmate JC Chasez. When the show ended in 1995, Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in a new all-male singing group he was forming with friend Chris Kirkpatrick. The group would come to be known as 'N Sync. In 1999 Justin acted as Jason Sharpe in the made-for-TV movie Model Behavior.

Timberlake's biggest inspiration is The King of Pop, Rock & Soul Michael Jackson, which is noticeable in his dancing and singing style.

1995-2002: 'N Sync

Timberlake was a member of the popular 1990s boy band, 'N Sync, and was considered a teen idol. The group formed in 1995 and started their career 1996 in Germany and hit it big in the States two years later in 1998, eventually releasing the fastest-selling album of all time, No Strings Attached in 2000. In 2002, after the completion of their Celebrity Tour and release of "Girlfriend", the third single from their 2001 album Celebrity, the group decided to take time off, at which point Timberlake began work on his first solo album. He hoped the album would shed him of his squeaky-clean boyband image in favor of a sexier, more mature look and sound. Around this same time, in March of 2002, Timberlake split from long-time girlfriend and fellow popstar Britney Spears. The break-up heavily influenced Timberlake's writing for his upcoming album, as many songs touched on the topic, most notably the hit single "Cry Me A River".

2002-2004: Justified era

On August 29, 2002, after months of recording the album, Timberlake gave a performance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his first single, "Like I Love You", a sparse dance track produced by The Neptunes. The song became a hit, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the single, Timberlake released his debut solo album, Justified, on November 5, 2002. The album was also a success, despite selling considerably less than previous 'N Sync efforts. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 439,000 copies in its first week of release. It eventually went on to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S. and over 7 million copies worldwide. The album contained several tracks which were created to be part of Michael Jackson's Invincible album but didn't make it to the final selection of songs used for it. The album also received critical acclaim, thanks to its heavy R&B influence provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland. It spun off hits throughout late 2002 and 2003, including the top ten singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body". Timberlake supported the album by co-headlining the Justified/Stripped Tour with Christina Aguilera in the summer of 2003. For many dates, The Black Eyed Peas served as the opening act; Timberlake appeared uncredited on their smash hit "Where Is The Love?" which was also released in the summer of 2003. His record company did not want Timberlake to be credited for fear that it would take focus away from his solo releases; still, Timberlake often appeared with The Black Eyed Peas to perform the track live, including during the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards. By the end of the year, Timberlake recorded a song entitled "I'm Lovin' It." It was used by McDonald's as the theme to their "I'm Lovin' It" campaign.

In February 2004, during the halftime show of the Super Bowl XXXVIII, Timberlake performed with Janet Jackson before a television audience of over 140 million viewers. At the end of the performance, Timberlake tore off a part of Jackson's black leather costume in a "costume reveal" meant to accompany a portion of the song lyrics, "gonna have you naked by the end of this song". Part of the costume became detached, and Jackson's breast was briefly exposed. Timberlake apologized for the incident saying that he was "sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl... It was not intentional and is regrettable". The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" has since been used by the media to refer to the incident and has entered pop culture.

As a result of the controversy, Timberlake and Jackson were banned from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologize on screen at the event. Jackson declined. Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology while accepting the first of two Grammy Awards he received that night (Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me A River"). He had also been nominated for Album of the Year for Justified, Record of the Year for "Cry Me A River", and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Where Is The Love?" with The Black Eyed Peas.

2004-2006: Collaborations and acting career

After the Super Bowl controversy, Timberlake put his recording career on hold in an attempt to jumpstart his acting career. Timberlake had a few minor acting roles during his early music career, including a bit part as a model in the 2000 made-for-television film Model Behavior, and a cameo in the 2001 film On the Line, but he wanted more substantial roles. The first role he took during this time was as a journalist in the thriller Edison Force, which was filmed in 2004 and received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. He will also appear in the films Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and voice a young King Arthur in the animated film Shrek the Third, which will be released in 2007. He also appeared as a young Elton John, in the video for John's song, "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore"

Meanwhile, he continued to record with other artists. After "Where Is The Love?", he again collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on the 2005 track "My Style" from their album Monkey Business. Additionally, Timberlake was featured on Nelly's song, "Work It", which was remixed and included on Nelly's 2003 remix album. When recording the 2005 single "Signs" with Snoop Dogg, Timberlake discovered a throat condition. Nodules were subsequently removed from his throat in an operation that took place on May 5, 2005. He was advised not to sing or speak loudly for at least a few months. In the summer of 2005, Timberlake started his own record company, JayTee Records.

2006-present: FutureSex/LoveSounds era

Timberlake had a cameo in Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's video for her single "Promiscuous". He released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006. The album, which Timberlake created in 2005, debuted in the number one position on the Billboard chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week. The album is also the biggest album ever for pre-orders on iTunes, and beat Coldplay's record for the biggest one-week sales of a digital album. The album was produced by Timbaland, will.i.am, Rick Rubin and Timberlake himself, and features guest vocals by Three 6 Mafia, T.I. and will.i.am. A studio representative described it as being "all about sexiness" and aiming for "an adult feel". The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. It began receiving radio and Internet play on July 7, 2006, and premiered at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles and by week nine it reached number one, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number one on the Hot 100 for the week ending November 11, 2006. "LoveStoned" is rumored to be the third single due to him performing it at the 2006 European MTV Music Awards.

In October of 2006, Timberlake confirmed that he would focus on his music career rather than his film roles, specifying that it would be a "dumb thing to do at this point" to leave the music industry.

In 2007 Justin will tour around the world. The supporting act in America will be P!nk

Other work

Timberlake has opened several restaurants in the United States. He also started the William Rast clothing line, sold in Bloomingdale's, with childhood friend Trace Ayala. The 2007 line will contain cord jackets, cashmere sweaters, jeans and polo shirts. In 2004, ABC hired Timberlake to write a song for its NBA coverage. In October of 2005, the Grammy Association awarded Timberlake for humanitarian efforts in Tennessee, alongside writer/director Craig Brewer, also a Memphis native.

Near the end of 2002, Timberlake was the first celebrity to appear on Punk'd, a "candid camera" type show created by Ashton Kutcher to trick celebrities. Three episodes later, he set up Kelly Osbourne to be "punk'd", thus making him the first celebrity to appear on the show more than once. Timberlake later spoofed Ashton Kutcher and Punk'd in an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. He recently hosted the 2006 European MTV Music Awards. On December 16, 2006, he hosted Saturday Night Live doing double duty as the host and musical guest, as well as performing one scene dressed as a cup of soup. He previously hosted in 2003.

Personal life

Timberlake dated fellow pop singer Britney Spears for several years. The two appeared on the New Mickey Mouse Club together and broke up in 2002, amid rumors of Spears' infidelity. Timberlake has since dated actress-singer Alyssa Milano (between September and October of 2002). Timberlake is currently dating actress Cameron Diaz. In June 2006, several tabloids reported that the couple had broken up, citing the age difference between them and Justin's apparent desire to 'sow his wild oats' when he embarks on a world tour in the near future (dates unknown). A representative for the couple says that the two are still together. Additionally, on the December 16, 2006 episode of SNL, Diaz introduced Timberlake as the night's musical guest.

Timberlake was given Sexiest Man titles by Teen People and Cosmopolitan magazines.

My Love

Sexyback

Cry Me A River

Rock Your Body

Nelly Furtado

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:07:00 +0000

Biography

Early years and influences

Furtado, a first-generation Portuguese Canadian, was born as one of three children to Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, Portuguese and Catholic parents from São Miguel Island in the Azores. She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.

In Rolling Stone Magazine she talked about her Catholic background, saying, "It was a big part of my life," Furtado says about church. "Very exciting and colorful. It was just so customary that I didn't really take the time to think about what everything meant, besides the basics. I still believe in the Ten Commandments and the Seven Sins. It keeps me on the straight and narrow, though I get jealous of people sometimes who can just let go and give in to sin."Fly Girl. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 16 Aug 2001.

Furtado's parents emigrated from Portugal to Canada in the late 1970s. She has stated that visiting her parents' birthplace, the Azores islands, as a child experiencing its culture and learning the Portuguese language has made her an open-minded person. This has strongly influenced her artistry as she has incorporated many cross-cultural sounds into her music. It is also evident in her multilingualism as she can speak English, Portuguese, Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Hindi. Furtado has acknowledged her parents as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, who was a housekeeper in Victoria. She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.

Furtado first sang at the age of four when she performed a duet with her mother at church on Portugal Day. She began playing instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and, in later years, the guitar and keyboard. She began writing songs at the age of twelve and, as a teenager, she played in a Portuguese marching band.

During these early years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative rock, alternative hip hop, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, and Indian music), and a variety of others. Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Caetano Veloso, Amalia Rodrigues, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Oasis, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, and Beck.

Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Growing up in Canada and experiencing Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of fifteen and continues to discover new genres. On a 2006 Rolling Stone issue, she commented about her diverse taste:

“
I always know there's a new genre left to discover. For me, it's like a metaphor for life. I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it's fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I'm always undergoing mind-opening.

”

The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs. During a visit to Toronto, after the summer of eleventh grade, she met Tallis Newkirk, member of hip hop group Plains of Fascination and contributed vocals to their 1996 album Join the Ranks on the track "Waitin' 4 the Streets". She spent the rest of that summer in Portugal, opening her mind to native rock acts. She then returned to British Columbia in the fall. After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto where she eventually formed the trip hop duo Nelstar in 1997 with Newkirk. The experience led her back to her hip-hop influences and allowed her to become more comfortable with writing her own melodies and rhymes. Although, "Like", one of the songs Nelstar recorded, received a VideoFACT grant to cover for the production of a music video, Furtado felt the trip-hop style of the duo was "too segregated" and believed it did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability. She left the group and decided to move back home.

Before moving, she performed at the 1997 Honey Jam, a female, mostly-black talent show at Toronto nightclub Lee's Palace. She performed to a Digital Audio Tape in jeans and a t-shirt. At the club, The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton (aka Jarvis Church) was impressed with her performance and approached her to write with him. Eaton and fellow Kings member Brian West, collectively known as Track and Field, helped Furtado produce a demo, but she already had plans to backpack through Europe and return home to take creative writing courses at Camosun College. She stayed in touch with Eaton and West who insisted that she return to Toronto to record more material. She eventually returned for two weeks; the material recorded during those sessions led to her record deal with DreamWorks Records in 1999.

2000–2002: Whoa, Nelly!

Furtado continued to collaborate with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which was released in October 2000. The album saw major success all over the globe supported by its four singles, "I'm like a Bird", "Turn off the Light", "...On the Radio (Remember the Days)", and "Hey, Man!". It received four Grammy nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furthermore, Furtado was critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. Slant magazine called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of 'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music at the turn of the millennium". The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional music that's upbeat and hopeful". Following the release of the album, Furtado headlined the Burn in the Spotlight tour and also appeared on Moby's Area:One tour.

2003–2005: Folklore

Before the release of her sophomore album, Folklore, Furtado gave birth to her first child, daughter Nevis (purportedly named for the Caribbean island, Nevis, on which she was conceived - in actuality named for the Latin word "Nevi", confirmed by Nelly on Australia's Kyle and Jackie O radio show on the 7th of August, 2006). On September 20, 2003 in Toronto, she had a home birth with midwives. She has said about motherhood, "It's actually pretty incredible. It's a lot more instinctual than I thought".

Nevis's father is Furtado's then boyfriend, DJ/producer Jasper Gahunia aka Lil' Jaz. Furtado and Gahunia, who broke up in 2005, were together for four years and friends for several years before that. She has stated, "We're fully active co-parents and really close friends, so things are irie".

Nevis is ethnically a quarter Filipino, a quarter Indian, and half Portuguese. Furtado has chosen to raise her in Toronto due to the city's cultural diversity, open-mindedness, and grassroots political activism.

Furtado's second album, Folklore, was released in November 2003. The title was influenced by her parents immigration to Canada, "when I look at my old photo albums, I see pictures of their brand-new house, their shiny new car, their first experiences going to very North American-type places like Kmart. When you have that in your blood, you never really part with it—it becomes your own personal folklore."The album also displayed a diverse sound but with a more rock-oriented, acoustic approach. As she focused more on the songwriting rather "than on frenetically switching genres five times in one song", BBC felt that it had "twice the originality" of her debut. Furtado attributed the mellowness of the album to the fact that she was pregnant during most of its recording. The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", is dedicated to her daughter.

The album includes the single "Força" (meaning "strength" or "carry on" in Portuguese), which was written as the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed the song at the championship's final in Lisbon, Portugal in July 2004. Other singles included the ballad "Try" and "Powerless (Say What You Want)", in which she embraces her Portuguese heritage; the song deals with "the idea that you can still feel like a minority inside, even if you don't look like one on the outside".

The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to troubles at DreamWorks Records and the less poppy sound. It lacked promotion because DreamWorks was sold to Universal Music Group at the time of Folkore's release. In 2005, DreamWorks Records was shut down, and many of its artists, including Furtado, were absorbed into Geffen Records.

2006–present: Loose

Furtado's third album, Loose, was released in June 2006. It was named partly after the spontaneous, creative decisions she faced while creating the album and also for the band TLC, who she said she admires for "taking back their sexuality, showing they were complete women." Four lead singles were released in different regions of the world: the Spanish reggaeton-influenced "No Hay Igual" (featuring Calle 13), the hip-hop "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland), for which she won a 2006 Billboard Music Award, the latin "Te Busqué" (featuring Juanes) and the dark-pop "Maneater". For the first time, Furtado worked with a variety of record producers and followed a more collaborative approach in creating the album. The album, mostly produced by Timbaland, showed her experimenting with a more R&B–hip hop sound and the "surreal, theatrical elements of '80s music". She has categorized the album's sound as punk-hop, which she describes as "this modern, poppy, spooky music" and stated that "there's a mysterious, after-midnight vibe to [it] that's extremely visceral". She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year old daughter.

Furtado also wanted the album to sound more like her demo tapes which she prefers over her finished albums. She recalls, "The cool thing is we did the mixes as we went. The whole album is a board mix theoretically. We didn't bring in the fancy mixer at the end". During the album's creation, she listened to several electro and hard rock musicians including System of a Down and Death from Above 1979 who influenced the rock sounds present on the album and the "coughing, laughing, distorted bass lines" which were kept in the songs deliberately.

Loose became the most successful album of Furtado's career, reaching number-one in several countries including the United States and Canada and producing the hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", and "Say It Right", which have become the most successful songs of her career reaching number-one on several charts worldwide. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music, and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising."

In June 2006, in an interview with Genre magazine, when asked if she had "ever felt an attraction to women", Furtado replied "Absolutely. Women are beautiful and sexy." She also said the idea that everyone was inherently bisexual made sense to her and agreed with Kurt Cobain's statement that "everyone is gay" from Nirvana's "All Apologies". Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality, but in August 2006, she confirmed that she was "straight, but very open-minded". She commented that she was slightly embarrassed by the quotes and stated, "I guess I was humouring the journalist a little and I was reading a book about Chinese medicine, and we went off on a tangent."

In November 2006, Furtado announced that her world tour will begin in Canada on January 31, 2007. The first date is in London, Ontario, and she will tour five continents. Furtado and Justin Timberlake are featured on Timbaland's upcoming single "Give It to Me".

In late November, Furtado said that she turned down US$500,000 to pose nude in Playboy.

It has been reported that Nelly will make an all-Spanish album that will be coming out in early 2007.

Say It Right

Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland - Promiscuous

All good things

Maneater