Julia Nunes

Julia Nunes (born January 3, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter from Fairport, New York.

Her career has progressed online through her videos of pop songs on YouTube, in which she sings harmony with herself and plays acoustic instruments, primarily the ukulele, guitar, melodica, and piano.

Nunes was born into a musical family in New York.

Her father is a pianist and a composer of children's songs.

One grandfather was a composer of Portuguese fado music and the other a jazz pianist.

Nunes started piano lessons at age seven, before switching to the guitar in her teens.

She began writing songs at age 14 and playing the ukulele in 2005.

She also plays guitar and melodica.

Nunes has indicated in the comment section of one of her YouTube videos (see below) that she holds dual USA-Portuguese citizenship.

Nunes produces videos on YouTube.

Among them are original songs as well as covers of some of Nunes' favorite bands, such as Say Anything, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Destiny's Child.

Her original songs have been featured on the main page of YouTube twice, under the username 'jaaaaaaa'.

Nunes' first album, Left Right Wrong, contained all original compositions and came out in the summer of 2007.

It was released independently, published by JuNu Music (ASCAP), on Nunes' label Rude Butler Music.

On Good Morning America (June 30, 2008), Molly Ringwald stated that she took up the ukulele after seeing Julia Nunes on YouTube.

"I've always wanted to play the ukulele, and she completely inspired me," she said.

Nunes is also featured in a YouTube cover video of "Some Nights" by fun., alongside members of the band Walk off the Earth.

In May 2008, Nunes opened four times for one of her idols, Ben Folds, at the musician's request, and the same month she performed at the Bushman Ukulele Luau at The Knitting Factory in New York after having won the 2007 Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest.

On October 25, 2008, she opened for the Bacon Brothers at The State University of New York at Geneseo.

On November 22, 2008, Nunes performed her song "Maybe I Will" on YouTube Live '08 in San Francisco.

She was joined onstage by The YouTube Ukulele Orchestra, which is composed of fellow YouTube ukulele players Wade Johnston, Dustin Domingo, Philip Fernandez, and Narciso Lobo.

In December 2008, Nunes participated in the Green brothers' Project for Awesome.

Rather than tell YouTubers to donate time or money to a charity, she offered one of her hand-knit hats on eBay, promising to donate the proceeds of the auction, and her own matching funds, to the Lupus Foundation of America.

The hat sold for US$1,250.00, after which she asked her followers to help her make the donation, promising US$500.00 of her own money.

Following YouTube success, as of June 2008, Nunes arranged a distribution deal for Left Right Wrong with Burnside Distribution Corporation, and the album can now be purchased through some mainstream sources.

The twelve tracks (ten studio, two live) were recorded with just guitar and voice, without the overdubs which feature in her YouTube videos.

I Wrote These was released on October 15, 2008, containing original compositions by Nunes, except for Track 12, "Sugar Coats", which was co-written with her friend and fellow musician Kirk Stevens.

Like her first album, I Wrote These was released on her Rude Butler Music label and copyrighted to JuNu Music.

The album was tracked and mixed at Studio Arts Entertainment and Hilltop Recording in Greenwich, NY, by Peter Kobor and Chris Roberson.

The record features mostly acoustic tracks, although Nunes is joined on a few songs by a full band (including Todd Haviland on bass and Dave Harris on drums).

In January 2009, Nunes played four sold-out shows in London, England, and was interviewed and performed on BBC Radio 1.

In June 2009, she played two shows and participated in the artist signing tent at Bonnaroo, the independent music festival held in Manchester, TN; she also completed a second tour of England.

Nunes began recording her third album of original music in August 2009, working with Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose as producers.

Nunes has also appeared in several videos with Jake & Amir of CollegeHumor.

She played at Bonnaroo 2010, her second time there.

Nunes started the event on the main stage at noon, June 11, 2010, and also played alongside Weezer on the second night.

She opened for Ben Kweller at Indiana University's Buskirk-Chumley Theater on November 13, 2010, as part of Kweller's tour.

On January 24, 2012, Nunes made her television debut, performing "Stay Awake" on Conan.

Nunes covered the Bruno Mars song "That's What I Like" with the funk band Scary Pockets in 2017.

On January 3, 2017, Nunes began a Kickstarter campaign for her sixth album and achieved over twice its funding goal.