Nelly Furtado

List of awards and nominations received by Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado in Germany, 2006.

This is a comprehensive list of awards and nominations won by Nelly Furtado, a Canadian singer-songwriter. Since beginning her career, Furtado has received twenty-nine awards from seventy-four nominations.

Furtado's first hit single, "I'm like a Bird" from her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, earned her the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards, one Juno award, and Best Pop New Artist Clip at the Billboard Music Video Awards.

Her second album, Folklore (2003), wasn't successful saleswise, but it earned her only six Juno nominations.

Loose, the third album, was the most successful album of her career. She won a Best International Female Solo Artist at the 2007 BRIT Awards, a Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals nomination at the 2007 Grammy Awards, and an Album of the Year award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

Furtado has been nominated once at the annual American Music Awards.

The Grammy Awards are held annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Furtado has won one award from seven nominations.

The Groovevolt Music and Fashion Awards are held annually by Groovevolt.com, one of the Internet's leading music sites. Furtado has received four nominations.

The Juno Awards are presented annually to musicians to acknowledge artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of Canadian music. Furtado has won ten awards from seventeen nominations.

The MTV Europe Music Awards were established in 1994 by MTV Europe to celebrate the most popular music videos in Europe. Furtado has won one award from six nominations.

The MTV Video Music Awards were established in 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. Furtado has received four nominations.

The annual MuchMusic Video Awards are presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honor the year's best music videos. Furtado has won two awards from six nominations.

The NRJ Music Awards, created in 2000 by the radio station NRJ in partnership with the television network TF1 takes place every year in mid-January at Cannes as the opening of MIDEM. Awards are given to popular musicians by different categories. Furtado has won one award from three nominations.

The Teen Choice Awards are presented annually by the Fox Broadcasting Company and Global Television Network. The program honors the year's biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, and television as voted by teenagers aged twelve to nineteen. Furtado was won two awards from four nominations.

The West Coast Music Awards are presented to artists from British Columbia. Furtado has won four awards.

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Maneater (Nelly Furtado song)

Released as the album's first single in Europe in May 2006, "Maneater" became one of Nelly Furtado's most popular singles, topping the singles charts in Poland and the UK, and reaching the top ten across much of Continental Europe. It served as the album's second single in Australia, where it reached the top five, and in North America, where it became a club hit but was less commercially successful than the lead single, "Promiscuous". It received favorable reviews from many music critics.

Furtado has characterized "Maneater" as "a 'couture pop' song", explaining that it is "in your face and very fashionable, stylistic and of-the-moment." In an interview with MTV News, she compared it favorably to eating too much cheesecake: "It's got a crazy loud beat, and the vocals are bitchy and loud. A lot of people say it sounds like Peaches, because of the delivery, the spooky vocals." According to Furtado, the song is related to how people become "hot on themselves" when dancing in their underwear in front of a mirror. " truly has a life of its own; it makes you move", she said. Media sources compared it to the Hall & Oates single "Maneater", released in 1982 (see 1982 in music), which Furtado has cited as an influence on the song.

In Australia, the CD was released in two formats, although one version (the international single) had an extremely limited run and was not widely available. The Australia-exclusive "Maneater" CD single includes a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" recorded on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge program, on which "Maneater" was covered three times, by pop punk band Panic! at the Disco, dance music duo Basement Jaxx and rock band Boy Kill Boy, whose cover was released on the album Radio 1's Live Lounge.

About.com's Bill Lamb gave the song 3.5 out of 5 stars, praising the "powerful thumping beat and insanely catchy chorus", but considering the song repetitive and more suitable for the dance floor than radio stations. IGN's review praised the song, but considered it too similar to British singer M.I.A., alleging that "the blatant attempt to capitalize on that ultimately causes the track to crumble." The song was later ranked as the twentieth best single of 2006 at The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll.

The single became a hit elsewhere in Europe, reaching the top five in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and Norway, the top ten in Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands and the top twenty in France. "Maneater" was released on U.S. national television at the Fashion Rocks event on September 8, 2006. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number sixty-two, the highest debut of the week, and peaked at number sixteen; it also reached the top twenty on Billboard's Pop 100. "Maneater" reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, but it was not as commercially successful in the U.S. as the preceding single, "Promiscuous", which reached number one on all three charts. The single debuted on the Australia ARIA Singles Chart on September 25 and rose to the top five the following week, peaking in its seventh week at number three. The ARIA accredited "Maneater" as a gold single for selling over 35,000 copies.

In Canada, where "Promiscuous" topped the singles chart, "Maneater" reached number twenty-two on November 23, 2006 (its fifteenth week), selling close to 150 copies. Its underperformance was attributed to the limited release of the CD single, which had been sold through retailers as early as "Promiscuous". "Maneater" received substantial radio airplay and peaked inside the BDS Airplay Chart top five. On November 16, it debuted on the Canadian Dance Chart, and it reached the top ten in late January 2007. "Maneater" was the eighth best selling digital track of 2006 in Canada, with 38,800 downloads.

In Latin America, "Maneater" was released as the first single, and reached the top twenty on the Latin America Top 40 in October 2006.

The single's music video was directed by Anthony Mandler. The video features former So You Think You Can Dance contestant Jamile McGee as a dancer. Nelly Furtado had to schedule extra practicing sessions for her own dancing in the video.

The video does not have a substantial plot and, per Furtado's request, focuses on simultaneously celebrating and parodying the "maneater cliché". It begins with Furtado searching for her runaway Great Dane, Toby, at night in a seemingly deserted industrial district of an unnamed city. She follows the dog to the basement of a dark, dilapidated building, where she encounters a silent crowd of people in the middle of what MTV News described as a "Fight Club-esque party". Furtado positions herself in the middle of the crowd and, as the initial beat of the song emerges, begins to dance with "a sense of abandon", according to Furtado. This serves as the catalyst for a dance party that continues as the song plays. Towards the end of the video, Furtado moves to the roof of the building and dances in front of the rising sun. In the end she leaves the party at dawn, finding her dog sitting at the stairhead near the exit. "I like to walk on the dangerous side of life", Furtado said of the filming of the video.

In the U.S., the video premiered on Yahoo! Music on September 6 and was given a "First Look" on MTV's Total Request Live on September 8. It debuted on the show's top ten video countdown on September 11 and peaked at number nine, remaining on the countdown for three consecutive days. The video entered the MuchMusic Countdown in Canada in the week ending September 22, and it peaked at number one in the week ending December 8.

At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Furtado was nominated in the category of Female Artist of the Year for "Maneater" and "Say It Right".

The table below shows the chart positions of the single.

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Maneater".

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Nelly Furtado discography

This is the discography of Canadian pop singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, who has released two studio albums on DreamWorks Records and one studio album on Geffen Records.

Furtado gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It produced two more international singles: the more successful "Turn off the Light", and "Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days)". She then released her second studio album, Folklore, which was less commercially successful and produced two international singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and "Try". After giving birth to her daughter, Nevis, she released her third studio album, Loose, which produced the hits "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". Furtado has sold already 5 million albums in the US alone while 18 million albums worldwide.

All regularly released singles and their chart positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (U.S. Hot 100), as well as in Canada (CAN), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia (AUS), Germany (GER), Switzerland (SWI), Europe (EU), New Zealand (NZ), the Netherlands (NL).

Only Nelly Furtado's most successful markets are listed.

Special dance mixes were released to promote the current albums at the clubs.

The record company manufactured some indoor promo singles to promote the current albums. Some were sent to radio stations.

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Loose (album)

Loose is the third album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released by Geffen Records June 20, 2006 in North America (see 2006 in music). Timbaland and his then-protégé Danja produced the bulk of the album, which incorporates influences of dance, R&B and hip hop. The album explores the theme of female sexuality and has been described as introspective or even sad in parts. Its influence comes from some of the themes expressed in the material of artists such as Janet Jackson.

The album received criticism because of the sexual image Furtado adopted for the recording, with some feeling it was a ploy to sell more records. Further controversy rose over accusations of plagiarism on Timbalands part when recordings were leaked onto Youtube. The record was seen generally as critically and commercially successful. It reached high positions on charts across the world, and according to a November 2007 press release, it had sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

The album was heavily promoted, released in several editions and was supported by the Get Loose Tour, which is the subject of the concert DVD Loose: The Concert. Eight singles were released from the album, including the U.S. number-one singles "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right", which received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, respectively. Other stand out singles include the UK number-one single "Maneater" and the successful song "All Good Things (Come to an End)".

Furtado said that with the release of her albums before Loose, she had wanted to prove herself as a musician and earn respect from listeners through using many different instruments on an album, which most hip-hop musicians did not do. After she believed she had accomplished that, she felt she had freedom to make the type of music she "really love". Furtado said her previous problem with hip hop was that she did not think it was good enough to base one of her albums on, but that she then asked herself why she was being "pretentious". The album represents her separating from such notions and, in her words, "jumping in the deep end of the pool—'Ahh, screw it, this is fun!'". Furtado said she considers herself "all over the map" and promiscuous musically because she is not faithful to one style.

For the first time, Furtado worked with a variety of record producers and followed a more collaborative approach in creating the album. Produced primarily by Timbaland and Danja, Loose showcases Furtado experimenting with a more R&B-hip hop sound and, as she put it, the "surreal, theatrical elements of '80s music". She has categorized the album's sound as punk-hop, which she describes as Eurythmics-influenced "modern, poppy, spooky music" and stated that "there's a mysterious, after-midnight vibe to that's extremely visceral". Furtado has described the album as "more urban, more American, more hip-hop, more simplified" than her earlier work, which she said was more layered and textured because she "tend to overthink things". In contrast, during her studio time with Timbaland, she said she was "in the VIP boys club of just letting go" and being more impulsive.

During the recording of Loose, Furtado listened to several electro and rock musicians, including Bloc Party, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Metric and Death from Above 1979, some of whom influenced the "rock sound" present on the album and the "coughing, laughing, distorted bass lines" that were kept in the songs deliberately. According to her, music by such bands is "very loud and has a garage theme" to it, some of which she felt she captured on the album. Furtado has said rock music is "rhythmic again" and hip hop-influenced after it had become "so churning and boring." Because the mixing engineers were aware of Timbaland and Furtado's rock influences, the songs were mixed on a mixing board in the studio instead of "the fancy mixer at the end". Furtado said she preferred the louder volume that process gave to the album because she wanted it to sound like her demo tapes, which she prefers to her finished albums. She said, "It didn't have that final wash over it; it didn't have the final pressing at the end, save for a couple sounds".

The "off-the-cuff" conclusion to production was one of the reasons the album was titled Loose. According to Furtado, instead of "pristine stuff", the album features "really raw" elements such as distorted bass lines, laughter from studio outtakes and general "room for error"; it was named partly after the spontaneous decisions she made when creating the album. The album is also called Loose because it is "the opposite of calculated" and came naturally to Furtado and Timbaland; she called him her "distant musical cousin because he was always pushing boundaries and always carving out his own path", which she believed she was doing with Loose. "I think you have to keep surprising people as an artist, and I like that—I love doing that", she said.

Loose was also named partly for the R&B girl group TLC, who Furtado said she admires for "taking back their sexuality, showing they were complete women." She said she wanted the album to be "assertive and cool" and "sexy but fun", like TLC, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Janet Jackson, who inspired Furtado because, as she put it, she was "comfortable in her sexuality and womanhood" when her 1993 single "That's the Way Love Goes" was released. Furtado has said Loose is not as much about the lyrics, which are not included in the liner notes, as it is about "indulging in pleasures—whether it's dancing or lovemaking." According to her, she wasn't trying to be sexy with the album—"I think I just am sexy now", she said.

The opening track, "Afraid" (featuring rapper Attitude), is a description of Furtado's fear of what people think of her, and she has said the chorus reminds her of "walking down the hall in high school ... because you live from the outside in. Now that I'm an adult, I care about the inside of me ... Before I said I didn't care about what people thought about me, but I really did." She compared "Maneater" to how people become "hot on themselves" when dancing in their underwear in front of a mirror. "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland) was inspired by a flirting exchange Furtado had with Attitude, who co-wrote the song She has characterised the fifth track, "Showtime", as "a proper R&B slow jam". The album also features more introspective songs, and The Sunday Times wrote that it "has a surprising sadness to it." The seventh track, "Te Busqué", which features Latin singer Juanes, is about Furtado's experiences with depression, which she said she has had periodically since she was around seventeen years old. Furtado said she was unsure what "Say It Right" is about, but that it encapsulates her feeling when she wrote it and "taps into this other sphere"; in an interview for The Sunday Times, it was mentioned that it is about her breakup with DJ Jasper Gahunia, the father of her daughter. "In God's Hands", another song on the album, was also inspired by the end of their relationship.

Furtado began work on Loose by holding with emcee Jellystone what she referred to as a "hip-hop workshop", in which they would "write rhymes, dissect them, and try different flows over beats." The first producers she worked with were Track & Field—who co-produced her first two albums, Whoa, Nelly! (2000) and Folklore (2003)—and by May 2005, she had collaborated with Swollen Members and K'naan. She worked with Nellee Hooper in London on reggae-oriented material and with Lester Mendez in Los Angeles on acoustic songs. One of the tracks Mendez helped to create is "Te Busqué", which is co-written by and features Juanes, who collaborated with Furtado on his 2002 song "Fotografía". During her time in Los Angeles, she worked with Rick Nowels, who co-wrote and produced "In God's Hands" and "Somebody to Love".

In Miami, Florida, Furtado collaborated with Pharrell (who introduced her to reggaeton and who gave her a "shout-out" in his 2005 single "Can I Have It like That") and Scott Storch (with whom she recorded a "straight-up rap song") before entering the studio with Timbaland. He and his protégé at the time, Danja, co-produced eight of the tracks, with another produced solely by Danja. For some of the beats on the songs, Timbaland finished work on ones already present in the studio that were half-developed or just "nucleuses"; the rest were completely reworked.

Furtado recorded around forty tracks for Loose, deciding which she would include based on the sonics of the album—she called Timbaland "a sonic extraterrestrial" who came up with a sequence of songs that flowed, and said that the one she had devised was supposedly unsatisfactory. She recorded an unreleased collaboration with Justin Timberlake, "Crowd Control", which she described as "kind of sexy" and "a cute, clubby, upbeat, fun track". Other songs considered for inclusion on the album include "Chill Boy", "Friend of Mine", "Go", "Hands in the Air", "Pretty Boy", "Vice" and "Weak".

Furtado said in her diary on her official website that she recorded a remix of "Maneater" with rapper Lil' Wayne; it was only released as part of a compilation album, Timbaland's Remix & Soundtrack Collection, she also used the instrumental of the song during many television performances of "Maneater". A version of "All Good Things (Come to an End)" featuring vocals by Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, who co-wrote the song, was not released after a request from Martin's label, EMI. The song was released on the album, but only Furtado's vocals are featured.

Considerable attention was generated by the more sexual image of Furtado presented in promotion and publicity for the album, and in particular the music videos for "Promiscuous" and "Maneater", in which she dances around with her midriff exposed. According to Maclean's magazine, some said that Furtado's progression was a natural transformation of a pop singer; others believed that she had "sold out" in an effort to garner record sales, particularly after her second album was a commercial failure in comparison to her first.

In early 2007, a video hosted on YouTube led to reports that the song "Do It", and the Timbaland-produced ringtone "Block Party" that inspired it, used—without authorization—the melody from Finnish demoscene musician Janne "Tempest" Suni's song "Acidjazzed Evening", winner of the Assembly 2000 oldskool music competition. Timbaland used the record of C64 adaptation of the song written by Glenn Rune Gallefoss (GRG). Timbaland admitted sampling the song, but said that he had no time to research its intellectual owner.

In case that the artist decides to pursue the matter further, it's on him to go to America and confront them with the local use of law. It will require a considerable amount of faith and, of course, money.

In January 2008, Turkish newspapers reported that Kalan Müzik, the record label that released Turkish folk singer Muhlis Akarsu's album Ya Dost Ya Dost, pressed charges against Furtado for the Loose track "Wait for You", which label officials said features the bağlama instrumental part of Akarsu's song "Allah Allah Desem Gelsem".

Loose received positive reviews from critics, receiving a 71/100 rating on the review scores aggregate website Metacritic. musicOMH and Allmusic cited the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music, and The Guardian called it "slick, smart and surprising." Allmusic wrote in its review, "It's on this final stretch of the album that the Furtado and Timbaland pairing seems like a genuine collaboration, staying true to the Nelly of her first two albums, but given an adventurous production that helps open her songs up ... Timbaland has revitalized Nelly Furtado both creatively and commercially with Loose".She won her first BRIT Award—Best International Female—in 2007.

Loose debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling more than 34,000 copies in its first week, at that time the year's strongest debut for a Canadian artist. In late July, after Furtado embarked on a short tour of Canada and made a guest appearance on the television show Canadian Idol, the album returned to number one. It subsequently stayed near the top of the album chart until late January 2007, when it reached number one again for two weeks. It was the third best-selling album of 2006 in Canada, and the highest selling by a female solo artist, with 291,700 copies sold. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) certified Loose five times platinum in May 2007 for shipments of more than 500,000 copies. It stayed in the top twenty for fifty-seven weeks.

The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with sales of 219,000; it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and ranked sixty-fourth on the Billboard 2006 year-end chart. Loose exited the U.S. top ten in August 2006 but re-entered it in March 2007, and according to Nielsen SoundScan in October 2007, it had sold two million units. The album ranked thirty-second on the Billboard 2007 year-end chart. In the United Kingdom, Loose entered the albums chart at number five; in its forty-third week, it reached number four, and it was certified double platinum for shipments to retailers of more than 600,000 copies. As of July 2007, it had sold roughly 827,000 copies in the UK. The record was certified two times platinum in Australia for more than 140,000 units shipped; it reached number four there and was placed forty-fourth on the Australian Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) list of 2006 bestsellers. The album entered the chart in Germany at number one, spent a record forty-nine weeks in the German top ten, and was certified five times platinum. Loose became the most successful album in Germany since the establishment of the Longplay charts in 1992. Loose reached number one on the European Top 100 Albums chart in early 2007, spending ten non-consecutive weeks at number one.

By March 2007, it had been certified gold or platinum in twenty-five countries. According to a Geffen Records press release, Loose had sold more than seven million copies by November 2007.

In April 2006, a remix of "No Hay Igual" featuring Calle 13 was issued as a club single in the U.S. During the same period, "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland) was released for digital download in North America. It was Furtado's first single to top the U.S. Hot 100 and was released in Australia, where it reached the top five. The lead single in Europe and Latin America, "Maneater", was released in late May to early June 2006. It became Furtado's first single to top the UK Singles Chart and made the top ten in other countries; it reached the top five in Germany and the top twenty in France and Latin America.

The second single in Europe, "Promiscuous", was released in late August to early September 2006 and performed less well than "Maneater". It peaked inside the top five in the UK and the top ten in other countries, including Germany, and it reached the top twenty in France. During the same period, "Maneater" began its run as the second single in North America; it was not as successful as "Promiscuous", reaching number twenty-two in Canada and the top twenty in the U.S., though it became a top five single on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Releases of the third North American single, "Say It Right", and the third Europe single, "All Good Things (Come to an End)", took place in November and December, and the third Latin American single, "Promiscuous", was released in January 2007. "Say It Right" went to number one in the U.S. and on the Nielsen BDS airplay chart in Canada (where it was not given a commercial release), and it reached the top five in Australia. "All Good Things (Come to an End)" reached number one on the pan-European singles chart and the top five in the UK, and it was the album's most successful single in Germany, where it topped the chart, and in France, where it became a top ten hit. After the release of "Say It Right" in Europe in March 2007, the single reached the top five in Germany and the top ten in the UK, where it was a download-only release. The video for "All Good Things (Come to an End)" was released in North America during this period. "All Good Things (Come to an End)" peaked in the top five in Canada and in the top twenty in Australia, though it only reached the lower half of the U.S. Hot 100.

The album's fifth UK single was "In God's Hands", and the fifth single in North America was "Do It". In May 2007, Furtado mentioned the possibility of a sixth or seventh single, mentioning the examples of Nickelback's All the Right Reasons and The Pussycat Dolls' PCD as albums that were being supported by seventh singles at the time. Furtado said she liked the possibility because she thought Loose was good and "want people to hear as much of it as possible" before she took time off.

Two other songs, "Te Busqué" and "No Hay Igual", were released as singles in other regions of the world. "Te Busqué" was the lead single in Spain because of the limited success hip-hop/R&B-influenced songs in the style of "Promiscuous" and "Maneater" achieved in the country. It reached number one on the Los 40 Principales radio chart in December 2006. It was not released in the United States, but it was given airplay on Latin music radio stations and reached the top forty on Billboard's Latin Pop Airplay chart. The "No Hay Igual" remix featuring Calle 13 was released in Latin America, and the music video debuted in September.

During the promotion of Loose, Furtado performed at major music festivals and award shows. In Europe, she appeared at Rock am Ring and Rock-im-Park in Germany and the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands in June 2006. She performed in Canada at the Calgary Stampede, the Ottawa Bluesfest in July, and at the Ovation Music Festival in September. Shortly after her August 2006 performance at the Summer Sonic in Japan, she sang at the Teen Choice Awards. In November, she contributed to the entertainment during the World Music Awards, the American Music Awards and the 94th Grey Cup halftime show. She performed at the 2007 NRJ Music Awards, held in January 2007.

Furtado embarked on a world concert tour, the Get Loose Tour, on February 16, 2007 in the UK, in support of the album; the tour included thirty-one dates in Europe and Canada, with additional shows in the U.S., Japan, Australia and Latin America. Furtado described the show as a "full sensory experience" with "a beginning, middle and end ... takes you on a journey", also stressing the importance of crowd involvement and "spontaneity and rawness, because those are my roots, you know? I started by doing club shows, and that's the energy I love, the raw club energy of just feeling like you're rocking out." Though Furtado said choreographed dance routines were to be included in the show, she described it as "music-based ... Everything else is just to keep it sophisticated and sensual and fun." Furtado said she hoped to have Chris Martin, Juanes, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Calle 13 to guest on the tour, and have a "revolving door" of opening acts with Latin musicians opening in the U.S.

The iTunes edition has the interludes as separate tracks, and CD versions have the interludes attached to the previous track.

1 In Spain, the Spanish version of "Te Busqué" is track seven, and the English version is the bonus track.

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Timbaland

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, and singer. Timbaland has produced albums and singles for a number of artists from the mid-1990s to the present day.

Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine; the album was both a commercial and critical success. After further successful work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. He also released several of his own albums, often joined by fellow rapper Magoo. Between 2003 and 2005 he mainly worked together with Brandy, next to works with Jay-Z, Lil' Kim and Bubba Sparxx. Timbaland is one of the highest-paid people in the music industry, having earned $22 million in 2008, according to a 2008 Forbes article, "Hip Hop Cash Kings." According to the "Keep It Fit" Campaign, Timbaland was paid $45M during year 2007-2008 for the production of tracks for other artists.

He was born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Originally a disc jockey known as "DJ Timmy Tim" or "DJ Tiny Tim", Mosley began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While in high school, Mosley began a long term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. - "Surrounded By Idiots" - which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell.and partner Magoo.

Singer/rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and, taken by Mosley’s unique sense of rhythm, began working with him . She and her R&B group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after Timberland construction boots, which were popular in hip hop fashion.

Sista, Timbaland, and Magoo became part of DeVante's stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel"the theme song to Seasame Street, and Sista’s debut LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World, which was shelved and never released.

In 1996, Ginuwine released his debut album, Ginuwine...the Bachelor, which was produced by Timbaland. The album was both a commercial and critical success. On many of the tracks, Timbaland can be heard either rapping or providing ad-libs, similar to what both Elliott and Puff Daddy were doing at the time; Timbaland’s deep voice was usually vocoded to give it an electronic sound. While work was being completed on Ginuwine...the Bachelor, R&B artist Aaliyah contacted Timbaland and Elliott to write and produce songs for her second album, One in a Million. The tracks that were crafted for Aaliyah featured musical arrangements similar to those on Ginuwine...the Bachelor. One in a Million went on to sell over 11 million copies worldwide.

Asian instrumentation is present through much of his early work (Xscape’s "My Secret" remix, especially, with a sitar outro and Timbaland ad-libbing "Let’s take a little trip...to India"), but was most successful and prevalent with Jay-Z’s "Big Pimpin'" in 1999, which sampled directly from Hossam Ramzy's "Khusara Khusara," a belly dance version of the song "Khosara" originally made famous by Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez in the 1950s. Elliott's 2001 hit single, "Get Ur Freak On" from her third album, Miss E...So Addictive, also used a speedy Tabla drumline typical of Hindustani classical music.Nas' 1996 multi-platinum album I AM was also partly produced by Timbaland.

Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More Than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U".

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés -- some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian, Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the final version, which instead featured Timbaland singing alongside Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.

She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans right now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the person I ever met.

Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s debut album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!. He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II. Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.

Timbaland continued to produce hit singles and albums for artists; in 2004 Timbaland-produced singles by LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z became staples on urban radio, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac. The Timbaland-produced song "I'm So Fly" on Lloyd Banks’s 2004 debut album The Hunger for More is significant in that it was the first official Timbaland production bearing a co-production credit from Danja, who would go on to become a requisite collaborator with Timbaland in the future.

Timbaland started a new label distributed by Interscope, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E.. During 2006, Timbaland had seven singles receiving airplay worldwide by Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. Additionally, Timbaland also appears in most of the videos.

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout. However, Spears had refused. This came during the time she was in a rehabilitation center in Malibu.

Timbaland provides vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" and "Ice Box" by Omarion, all of which climbed the U.S. charts. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK, Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had been working on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence", and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".

On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists such as 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The first single, "Give It to Me" featuring Nelly Furtado and Timberlake, topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The fourth single from the album, a remix of the OneRepublic song "Apologize", was in the Billboard Hot 100 top ten for 25 weeks, the longest any song of the 2000s has spent in the top ten of the chart.

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV personality Sway Calloway. Storch responded with the track "Built Like That" on February 26, 2007, featuring Philadelphia rapper NOX, which caused a final response by Beat-Club-rapper D.O.E. on the song "Piano Man". The end of the feud was confirmed by Timbaland in the final issue of Scratch Magazine.

In November 2007, Timbaland and his then-fiancee Monique Idlett became parents to a baby girl Reign. Monique was also a publicist working at Timbaland's Mosley Music Group record company.

In early 2007, Timbaland was accused of plagiarism regarding his work on the Nelly Furtado track "Do It". He is alleged to have plagiarized elements from the song "Acid Jazzed Evening" by Finnish artist Tempest, without giving credit or compensation.

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Sean Paul's The Next Thing, Madonna's Hard Candy, Brandy's Human, Omarion's ,Menudo's upcoming album, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time, Jennifer Hudson's debut album, Dima Bilan's Against The Rules, Ashley Tisdale's Miss Independent, Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, Brittany Murphy's Debut Album, New Kids on the Block's "The Block" .

On February 8, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album solely on a mobile platform for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he is working with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable to be released in the summer of 2009.

Timbaland postponed his Australian Shock Value tour which was originally set for mid July to August . There has not been a press release and no reason has been given. On August 22 Timbaland was scheduled to play at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena and on the same date The Coke Live Festival in Poland. Timbaland has furthermore cancelled his Australian/New Zealand tour, and is suing the promoter of the concert, "Showtime Touring" for failing to pay and tarnishing his image by making it appear as if the concert didn't go ahead because of personal reasons. Instead, it was because the company failed to make its payments to Timbaland.

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland will receive the prestigious honor of being inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008. This award is over 300 years old and one honoree is chosen every year for exceptional contributions to society.

Timbaland executive producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker at the director's helm.

Timbaland is working on Shock Value: Volume 2, alongside british singer Leona Lewis, due in 2009, his 6th studio album and follow-up to his platinum album Shock Value in 2007.

On June 10, 2008, Timbaland married his long time girlfriend, Monique Idlett, in a civil ceremony presided over by a family pastor in Aruba. Timbaland currently lives in Miami, Florida, with his son Demitrius (who was on My Super Sweet Sixteen).

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