MUMBAI: Nelly Furtado, Canadian pop star of Portuguese ancestry and one Grammy triumph, has launched her own music company, Nelstar Music.
The Toronto-based electro-dance band Fritz Helder & the Phantoms is the first act signed to Nelstar and will release its debut album on July 7.
“I’ve been thinking about a way to help Fritz Helder for a while and this venture grew out of my love for the band, their art and their work ethic,” said Furtado, in a released statement. “I am as committed as they are to bringing their creativity to the world.”
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Furtado’s own last album, the sexed-up, Timbaland-produced Loose, was released back in 2006.
More recently the bird-like singer has kept her profile up by sharing microphones on duets with country-rock superstar Keith Urban (on last year’s remix of In God’s Hands) and British soul-pop crooner James Morrison (Broken Strings). A recent blog entry from Furtado revealed that she’s currently recording two “exciting” new albums, one in Spanish and one in Portuguese.
Furtado says she never considered introducing the Nelstar imprint via her label, Interscope. I’m happy there, and it would be great if Fritz got signed there at some point in the future,… Furtado says. But I also think that it’s best to start off an indie. When you are a new band and you sign to a major, you get thrown to the fire. Plus, I always secretly wanted to be an indie artist. When I was a teenager, I loved Ani DiFranco and hoped I could do something like that. A major turned out to be my destiny, but I’m enjoying reconnecting with the indie world….
