Nasri (musician)


Nasri Tony Atweh, known mononymously as Nasri, is a Grammy Award winning Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides 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. He is currently managed by SAL&CO.
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, and began singing at the age of six. He studied at Senator O'Connor College School, and while attending, was part of the school choir as well as extra-curricular sports.

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. Two years later in 2002, he won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with a song he wrote with Adam Messinger. The following year, he released two solo singles through Universal, "Go" and "Ova N' Dun With"․
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. In 2007, he released a song entitled "Click, Click, Click", that would ultimately be covered by the New Kids on the Block.

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 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.
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, 2011 Best Contemporary R&B Album for Chris Brown, and a win for 2012 Best R&B Album for Chris Brown, 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. 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.
in 2015

Success with Magic!

While playing music with friend Mark Pellizzer in 2012, Nasri conceived of Magic!. Mark Pellizzer then recruited Alex Tanas on drums and Ben Spivak on bass. 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.
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. Their follow-up, Primary Colours, was released in 2016 and third album Expectations in 2018.

Personal life

Since 2009, he has been linked romantically with the German singer Sandy Mölling. 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
along with many other unreleased demos

As member of Magic!

Songwriting and production

Song name
YearPrimary artistAlbumRoleNotes
"Summertime"2008New Kids on the BlockThe BlockCo-writerUS #36
"Single"2008New Kids on the Block The BlockCo-writerCAN #42
"Crawl"2009Chris BrownGraffitiCo-writer, Co-producerUS #53
"Up"2010Justin BieberMy World 2.0Co-writer, Co-producer
"That Should Be Me"2010Justin BieberMy World 2.0Co-writer, Co-producerUS #92
"Pray"2010Justin BieberMy Worlds AcousticCo-writer, Co-producerUS #61
"Never Say Never"2010Justin BieberMy Worlds AcousticCo-writer, Co-producerUS #8
"Mistletoe"2011Justin BieberUnder the MistletoeCo-writer, Co-producerUS #11
"Next to You"2011Chris Brown F.A.M.E.Co-writerUS #26
"On My Mind"2011Cody SimpsonCoast to CoastCo-writerUS Pop #39
"Feel This Moment"2012Pitbull Global WarmingCo-writer, Co-producerUS #8
"All Around the World"2012Justin Bieber BelieveCo-writerUS #22
"As Long as You Love Me"2012Justin Bieber BelieveCo-writerUS #6
"Don't Judge Me"2012Chris BrownFortuneCo-writerUS #67
"The Vision of Love"2012Kris AllenThank You CamelliaCo-writer, Co-producerUS Top 40 #29
"We Own the Night"2013The WantedWord of MouthCo-writer, Co-producerUS #94
"Change Your Life"2014Iggy Azalea The New ClassicCo-writer, Co-producerUK #10
"You Don't Care About Me"2014ShakiraShakiraCo-writer
"The One Thing"2014ShakiraShakiraCo-writer
"Cut Me Deep"2014Shakira ShakiraCo-writer
"Can I"2017Prince CharlezEvolution Pt. 1Co-writer
"Arms Open"2017The ScriptFreedom ChildCo-writer
"Bad News"2017SOJAPoetry in MotionCo-writer
"Comme Moi"2017Shakira El DoradoCo-writer
"What We Said "2017Shakira El DoradoCo-writer
"Not Afraid Anymore"2017HalseyCo-writer, co-producerUS #77
"So Long"2017MassariBeirutCo-writer