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Nelly Furtado: I used to be in a gang

Sep 17, 2012, 5:01 GMT

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado used to be in a high school gang.

The Canadian singer - who was born to Portuguese parents - admits she was in a group called the 'Portuguese Mafia' when she was at school but got thrown out because she wasn't very good at throwing stones.

She said: 'I was in a high school gang called the Portuguese Mafia. But I was the most hopeless rebel of all time. We drove around in a van with the windows covered in black paper. We specialised in crashing parties and throwing stones at buses. I was pretty good at crashing parties but the other gang members questioned whether I could throw the stones hard enough to break the windows - so they threw me out of the gang.'

The 'I'm Like A Bird' hitmaker also revealed how she once had a near-death experience live on stage after she fell 10ft off it.

She told live magazine: 'I thought I was going to die when I fell 10ft off stage. In 2002 I was performing at a big arena in New Orleans. I was in the middle of singing the most sensitive part of 'I'm Like A Bird' when I stumbled and fell 10ft to the ground. The crowd seemed to think it was part of the show. 'She's singing about being like a bird and she's trying to fly. How cool.' But I was hurt.'