Leslie Feist may hail from Toronto and that may be where she got her early start in the music business as a teenager, but her dreams and goals have made her visible in all 50 states and across the world as just “Feist” - or that chic in the iPod commercial belting “1,2,3,4 tell me that you love me more.”

Although simple, those lyrics are what ultimately propelled Feist into the limelight and now the 30-something has been nominated for four Grammy Awards this year, including best new female artist and best female pop vocals for the smash hit single “1234.” In addition, critics at major magazines have already showered Feist with massive praise for her 2007 album “The Reminder,” with TIME magazine naming it “album of the year” and Rolling Stone and Pitchfork magazine echoing those sentiments and placing it in their “Top 50 Albums of the year” lists.

Coming from a family of artists – her father an abstract-expressionist painter and her mother gifted in ceramics -Feist has made a name for herself in a different type of medium but has nonetheless been just as successful, getting her start in the music world at age 15 as part of the Canadian punk bank Placebo, emerging as a gifted solo artist more than five years late in 2000 and eventually selling out Feist tickets for concert venues across her country and the U.S.
Feist joined the group Broken Social Scene in between the production of her two solo albums- “Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down)” (1999) and “Let it Die” (2002) – and is known for her eclectic folk sound and her piercing and melodic voice that gives way to some of the most catchy hit songs. Her newest album, “The Reminder,” was released this year and has made its way to number 2 on the Candian music billboard and remains at number sixteen on the U.S. charts. Thirty-one-year-old Feist has continued making a name for herself through other collaborations with big time artists, such as Apostle of Hustle and Kings of Convenience, and won the Juno alternative album of the year award for her “Broken Social Scene” collaboration with the namesake group.

“My dad gave me a four-track for Christmas when I was fourteen,” Feist said in a 2005 interview with Index Magazine. “Then I swapped my twenty-hole cherry-red Doc Marten boots for a Fender Mustang bass at the local pawnshop —probably the best deal of my life! It had a slim fretboard that was perfect for my small hands. I taught myself how to play harmonies, and then I started experimenting, strumming the bass strings with an electric razor. My friends would come over, and we’d make up stories and write soundtracks for them.”

As she continues to gain popularity in the states, this Canadian musician has not lost track of what she has done in the past and reflected upon how her second solo album really helped jump start not only her career, but also her motivation to produce her lastest album, which has climbed to the top of charts and catapulted her into the mainstream music world.

I didn’t want ‘1234′ to be the first song because I thought the danger would be that it would stop there because it’s sort of spoon-feeding-style,” Feist said in a Dec. 2007 interview with Chart Attack. “It’s easy for them. That’s of the language they speak, label people. And I’m not necessarily talking about Arts & Crafts, I’m talking about the major labels and the rest of the world. I asked if we could start with something other than ‘1234′ so they would have motivation to end up there eventually.”

But it was ultimately that single which brought her major fame, especially when the catchy song was featured in an iPod Nano commercial last September, forcing millions of American viewers to sing along to the songstress’ infectious voice and poppy lyrics. The simplicity of the song is apparent but it still manages to draw listeners in with its seducingly quiet yet brassy mood - a statement that is true for her entire new album.

Still haven’t checked out Feist’s songs? Visit her official Web site or her Myspace page today.