Nasri (musician)

Nasri
Nasri performing live with MAGIC! in September 2014
Background information
Birth name Nasri Tony Atweh
Born (1981-01-10) January 10, 1981
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active 2002–present
Labels Sony
Associated acts

Nasri Tony Atweh (Arabic: نصري طوني عطوة‎, born January 10, 1981),[1] better known by his stage name Nasri, is a Grammy Award winning Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer currently residing in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocalist and songwriter for the reggae fusion band, MAGIC!, a group consisting of fellow Toronto natives, Mark Pellizzer, Alex Tanas, and Ben Spivak. MAGIC!'s single "Rude" became a major international hit single.

Nasri is also a renowned songwriter and producer, one half of the songwriting and production duo The Messengers. He and Adam Messinger have produced a string of hits for well-known artists, including Justin Bieber, Shakira, Pitbull, Chris Brown, Halsey, and more. In 2012, he earned the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for his production work on Chris Brown's F.A.M.E.. He also received a Latin Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album and the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album for his work on Shakira's El Dorado. His songs "As Long as You Love Me" by Justin Bieber and "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull both made the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Early life and education

Nasri was born and raised in Toronto, a child of Christian Palestinian immigrants from Nazareth,[2][3] and began singing at the age of six.[4][5][6] He studied at Senator O'Connor College School, and while attending, was part of the school choir as well as extra-curricular sports. He graduated in 1999. His yearbook ambition was to be "where the music lives".[7][8]

Career

Early career as a solo artist

At age 19, Atweh presented a demo to a local radio station. He then earned a deal with Universal Canada.[9] Two years later in 2002, he won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with a song he wrote with Adam Messinger.[10] The following year, he released two solo singles through Universal, "Go" and "Ova N' Dun With."[11]

The songs received some airplay in Canada, and another song titled "Best Friend" was also heard on indie radio in his hometown in 2003. According to the promotional material attached to his single "Go", he was to release an album titled Invisible Walls sometime in 2003 or 2004, but that never materialized.[11] In 2007, he released a song entitled "Click, Click, Click," that would ultimately be covered by the New Kids on the Block.[9][12]

Writing and production with The Messengers

Nasri is part of the writing and production duo The Messengers alongside Adam Messinger. He helped drive the reunion of the New Kids On The Block in 2007, and wrote numerous songs for them including his first, "Summertime." Over the course of the following years, Nasri wrote (usually with Messinger) for other major label artists such as Justin Bieber, David Guetta, Shakira, Cody Simpson, Cheryl, Boyzone, JLS, Kat Deluna, Elliott Yamin, Jason Derulo, Akon, Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Chris Brown, Big Time Rush, Iggy Azalea, Michael Bolton, Peter Andre, JoJo, Jay Sean, Vanessa Hudgens, No Angels, Manafest, and Iyaz.[13]

The Messengers are a Grammy-winning production team. Their work has resulted in two Grammy Award nominations for 2011 Best Pop Vocal Album for Justin Bieber (My World 2.0), 2011 Best Contemporary R&B Album for Chris Brown (Graffiti), and a win for 2012 Best R&B Album for Chris Brown (F.A.M.E.), as well as their collaboration with Justin Bieber / Rascal Flatts in "That Should Be Me" that won a 2011 CMT Music Award for Best Collaborative Video.[13][14][15] In 2017 and 2018, he was honored with the Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album and the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album for his work on Shakira's El Dorado.[16][17]

Nasri performing on stage with Zedd at Tokyo Summer Sonic in 2015

Success with Magic!

While playing music with friend Mark Pellizzer (who played guitar for Justin Nozuka) in 2012, Nasri conceived of Magic!. Mark Pellizzer then recruited Alex Tanas on drums and Ben Spivak on bass.[9] In 2013, Magic! released their highly successful debut single, "Rude", which peaked at number six on the Canadian Hot 100, topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. The band is signed to Sony Music Entertainment and partnered with Latium Entertainment in addition to RCA Records in the USA.[13][18]

Their debut album, Don't Kill the Magic, was released in 2014 and charted at number 5 in Canada and at number 6 in the U.S.[13] Their follow-up, Primary Colours, was released in 2016.[19]

Personal life

Since 2009, he has been linked romantically with the German singer Sandy Mölling.[20] The two had met while working on the No Angels album Welcome to the Dance. He has a son with Mölling.

Discography

As solo artist

Singles

  • "Go" (2003)
  • "Ova N' Dun With" (2003)
  • "Click Click Click" (2007)

As member of Magic!

Songwriting and production

Selected songs with production and songwriting credits
Song name
[21][22]		 Year Primary artist(s) Album Role Notes
"Summertime" 2008 New Kids on the Block The Block Co-writer US #36[23]
"Single" New Kids on the Block (feat. Ne-Yo) CAN #42[24]
"Crawl" 2009 Chris Brown Graffiti Co-writer, Co-producer US #53[25]
"Up" 2010 Justin Bieber My World 2.0 Co-writer, Co-producer
"That Should Be Me" US #92[26]
"Pray" My Worlds Acoustic US #61[26]
"Never Say Never" US #8[26]
"Mistletoe" 2011 Justin Bieber Under the Mistletoe Co-writer, Co-producer US #11[26]
"Next to You" Chris Brown (feat. Justin Bieber) F.A.M.E. Co-writer US #26[26]
"On My Mind" Cody Simpson Coast to Coast Co-writer US Pop #39[27]
"Feel This Moment" 2012 Pitbull (feat. Christina Aguilera) Global Warming Co-writer, Co-producer US #8[28]
"All Around the World" Justin Bieber (feat. Ludacris) Believe Co-writer US #22[26]
"As Long as You Love Me" Justin Bieber (feat. Big Sean) US #6[26]
"Don't Judge Me" Chris Brown Fortune Co-writer US #67[25]
"The Vision of Love" Kris Allen Thank You Camellia Co-writer, Co-producer US Top 40 #29[29]
"We Own the Night" 2013 The Wanted Word of Mouth Co-writer, Co-producer US #94[30]
"Change Your Life" 2014 Iggy Azalea (feat. T.I.) The New Classic Co-writer, Co-producer UK #10[31]
"You Don't Care About Me" Shakira Shakira Co-writer
"The One Thing"
"Cut Me Deep" Shakira (feat. Magic!)
"Can I" 2017 Prince Charlez Evolution Pt. 1
"Arms Open" The Script Freedom Child
"Bad News" SOJA Poetry in Motion
"Comme Moi" Shakira (feat. Black M) El Dorado
"What We Said (Comme Moi)" Shakira (feat. Magic!)
"Not Afraid Anymore" Halsey Fifty Shades Darker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Co-writer, co-producer US #77[32]
"So Long" Massari Beirut Co-writer

References

  1. ↑ "MAGIC! - Timeline Photos". Facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  2. ↑ "Palestinian Canadian lands huge hit on U.S. music charts". Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  3. ↑ "إذاعة الشمس تستضيف الفنان العالمي ابن مدينة الناصرة نصري طوني عطوة". Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  4. ↑ "Nasri - About". Facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  5. ↑ "Music Junkie – Nael Atweh". Sickestaddictions.com. 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  6. ↑ "AE: Entertainment: News By Industry – Page 1". 24-7pressrelease.com. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  7. ↑ Bliss, Karen (April 10, 2015). "MusiCounts and Why Reggae-pop Band Magic! Donated $100K". Samaritan Magazine. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ Senator O'Connor College (OCS) yearbook (1998/1999 school year)
  9. 1 2 3 "The MAGIC! of BMI Songwriter Nasri | News". BMI.com. 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  10. ↑ "Black Eyed Peas Present the John Lennon Songwriting Contest's `Maxell Song of the Year' to Amy Fairchild". BusinessWire. July 18, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  11. 1 2 Lau, Melody (April 21, 2016). "From the Weeknd to Magic!: Canadian musicians before they were famous". CBC Music. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ Smith, Jay (January 27, 2016). "A Look At Danny Wood". Pollstar. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Widran, Jonathan (June 20, 2014). "Interview With Hot Band MAGIC! About Their #1 Hit Single "Rude," Their Debut Album and Songwriting". Songwriter Universe. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ Anitai, Tamar (July 11, 2014). "Here's The Story Behind MAGIC!, That Band That Sings That Random Reggae Song, 'Rude'". MTV. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Nasri Atweh | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  16. ↑ "NOMINEES 18th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards". Latin Grammy Awards. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  17. ↑ Chow, Andrew R. (January 28, 2018). "Grammy 2018 Winners: Full List". The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Raggae pop band MAGIC! signs with Sony Music International". Themusicuniverse.com. 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  19. ↑ Williams, John (June 30, 2016). "Magic!'s Nasri on 'Primary Colours', his high school prophecy and loving the Raptors". Toronto Sun. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Ein Gespräch mit ... Sandy Mölling, Frankfurt | PRINZ". Prinz.de. 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  21. ↑ "Nasri Atweh". Discogs. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Nasri Atweh - Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  23. ↑ "New Kids on the Block - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  24. ↑ "New Kids on the Block - Chart History - Billboard Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  25. 1 2 "Chris Brown - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Justin Bieber - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Cody Simpson - Chart History - Mainstream Top 40". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Pitbull - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  29. ↑ "Kris Allen - Chart History - Adult Top 40". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  30. ↑ "The Wanted - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Change Your Life". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Halsey - Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
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