Nasri (musician)

Nasri Tony Atweh (Arabic: نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981),^[1] known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian musician.^[2] He serves as lead vocalist and songwriter for the reggae fusion band Magic!, which he formed in 2012 with fellow Toronto natives Mark Pellizzer, Alex Tanas, and Ben Spivak. The band are best known for their 2013 single "Rude", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.

Nasri is also one half of the songwriting and production duo The Messengers, which has produced songs for other music industry acts, including Justin Bieber, Shakira, Pitbull, Chris Brown, and Halsey. He won Best R&B Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards for his production work on Chris Brown's F.A.M.E.. He also won a Latin Grammy for his work on Shakira's El Dorado (2017). Two of his co-writing credits, "As Long as You Love Me" by Justin Bieber and "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull, peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top ten.

Nasri was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, as a child of Palestinian Christian immigrants from Bethlehem^[3][4] and began singing at the age of six.^[5] At age 19, Nasri presented a demo to a local radio station and earned a deal with Universal Canada.^[6] Two years later in 2002, he won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with a song he wrote with Adam Messinger.^[7]

The following year, he released two solo singles through Universal: "Go" and "Ova N' Dun With"․^[8] 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 "Go", he was to release an album titled Invisible Walls sometime in 2003 or 2004, but that never materialized.^[8] In 2007, he released a song called "Click, Click, Click" that would ultimately be covered by New Kids on the Block.^[6][9] Nasri helped drive the reunion of New Kids on the Block by writing numerous songs for them, including their 2008 reunion song "Summertime", which was Nasri's first top 40 hit.^[10]

Around 2008, Nasri signed with Sony ATV as part of the writing and production duo The Messengers alongside Adam Messinger.^[11][12] In 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, Lana Del Rey, Big Time Rush, Iggy Azalea, Michael Bolton, Peter Andre, JoJo, Jay Sean, Vanessa Hudgens, No Angels, Manafest, and Iyaz.^[13]

As collaborators, The Messengers have won two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album for Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. in 2011 and Best Latin Pop Album for Shakira's El Dorado in 2018. They also received two Grammy nominations in 2011: Best Pop Vocal Album for Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 and Best Contemporary R&B Album for Chris Brown's Graffiti. Outside the Grammys, they won a CMT Music Award for Best Collaborative Video with Justin Bieber and Rascal Flatts' "That Should Be Me" in 2011 and were nominated for Album of the Year in the 2017 Latin Grammy Awards^[14] for Shakira's El Dorado.

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.^[6] In 2013, Magic! released their 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][15]

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 and third album Expectations in 2018.^[16]

Magic! debuted as an independent act in 2022 with their single "Ain't Got Nothing Figured Out". In 2024, they released their first independent album, Inner Love Energy. According to Nasri, he is "happily independent", saying, "I don’t need a recording budget. I don’t need an A&R telling me what to do. I just want to make great music and connect with people directly."^[17]

In January 2021, Nasri self-released his debut solo EP, Here for You. On 9 May 2025, he released a duet with Jamaican singer Shenseea called "I'll Be Fire".^[17]

Nasri has been in a relationship with German singer Sandy Mölling since 2009, whom he met while working on the No Angels album Welcome to the Dance (2009).^[18] They had a son, Noah, in 2015 and got married in 2020; Nasri also has a stepson who is six years older than Noah.^[19] The family first lived in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles; since 2025, they have been commuting between the United States and Bonn.^[20]

• "Go" (2003)
• "Ova N' Dun With" (2003)
• "Click Click Click" (2007)
• "You Deserve Better" (2012)
• "No Peace" (2024)^[22]
• "Wonderful World" (2024)^[23]
• "I'll Be Fire" (with Shenseea) (2025)^[24]
• "Pra Sempre (Falei)" (with Maiara & Maraisa) (2025)^[25]
• "Wake Up (With You Mine)" (with Felix Jaehn) (2025)^[26]
• "Heaven on Earth" (2025)^[27]
• "I Promise You That" (with Banada AL9) (2025)^[28]

• "Call You" (Cash Cash featuring Nasri) (2018)^[29]

• MAGIC! official website (archived)
• Nasri official MySpace