Nasri (musician)


Nasri Tony Atweh, known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. 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. Two of his co-writing credits, "As Long as [You Love Me |As Long as You Love Me]" by Justin Bieber and "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull, peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top ten.

Life and Career

Early life and career beginnings

Nasri was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, as a child of Palestinian Christian immigrants from Bethlehem and began singing at the age of six. At age 19, Nasri presented a demo to a local radio station and 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 "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 called "Click, Click, Click" that would ultimately be covered by New Kids on the Block. 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.

2008–2011: The Messengers

Around 2008, Nasri signed with Sony ATV as part of the writing and production duo The Messengers alongside Adam Messinger. In 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, Lana Del Rey, Big Time Rush, Iggy Azalea, Michael Bolton, Peter Andre, JoJo, Jay Sean, Vanessa Hudgens, No Angels, Manafest, and Iyaz.
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 for Shakira's El Dorado.
File:Nasri-onstage-with-Zedd-Sumersonic-tokyo-Aug16-2015.jpg|thumb|Nasri performing on stage with Zedd at Tokyo Summer Sonic in 2015

2012–present: Magic! and Solo Career

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

Personal life

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. They had a son, Noah, in 2015 and got married in 2020; Nasri also has a stepson who is six years older than Noah. The family first lived in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles; since 2025, they have been commuting between the United States and Bonn.

Discography

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

  • "Go"
  • "Ova N' Dun With"
  • "Click Click Click"
  • "You Deserve Better"
  • "No Peace"
  • "Wonderful World"
  • "I'll Be Fire"
  • "Pra Sempre "
  • "Wake Up "
  • "Heaven on Earth"
  • "I Promise You That"

    As featured artist

  • "Call You"

    Songwriting and production

Song name
YearPrimary artistAlbumRoleNotes
"Summertime"2008New Kids on the BlockThe BlockCo-writerUS #36
"Crawl"2009Chris BrownGraffitiCo-writer, co-producerUS #53
"One Life"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer, co-producerGER #15
"Derailed"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer
"Dance-Aholic"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer
"Say Goodbye"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer
"Too Old"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer
"Young Love"2009No AngelsWelcome to the DanceCo-writer
"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 |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 |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"2017HalseyFifty Shades Darker: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackCo-writer, co-producerUS #77
"Flame"2017TinasheJoyrideCo-writer
"So Long"2017MassariBeirutCo-writer
"High Right Now"2019Tyla YawehHeart Full of RageCo-writer
"I Cry"2020Ushernon-album releaseCo-writer, co-producer
"Changes"2020Justin BieberChangesCo-writer, co-producer
"Never Break"2020John LegendBigger LoveCo-writer, co-producer
"Busy Boy"2020Chloe x HalleUngodly HourCo-writer, co-producer
"Don't Make It Harder on Me"2020Chloe x HalleUngodly HourCo-writer
"A New Day"2021No Angels20Co-writer
"Love You for Eternity"2021No Angels20Co-writer
"Hard to Love"2021H.E.R.Back of My MindCo-writer
"It's Christmas"2025No AngelsIt's ChristmasCo-writer