TORONTO -- Canadian singer Nelly Furtado says her two opening slots on U2's Elevation Tour in the U.S. were the coolest things to happen yet in her skyrocketing career.

"Bono and The Edge were right beside the stage watching in Charlotte, I didn't know until after, luckily, 'cause I would have froze," said Furtado, 22, yesterday afternoon in Toronto, where she took part in an hour-long Live@Much at the CHUM-City building at Queen and John.

"That was incredible. It's funny 'cause I always had this drive since I was a little kid, so I knew that one day I'd be making music on this large scale. So it wasn't really like if I met Bono, it was like when I met Bono, for real. I'm not lying. And so it was a complete dream come true, like, 'Wow! Cool!' And you think you meet someone like that, I wanted to ask him all the questions of the universe, but when I met him I didn't really ask any of them. I was like, 'Hey, how's it going. Why didn't you play guitar tonight?' "

Furtado's getting used to hanging with the A-list, given her musical career has been one exciting benchmark after the next.

Since winning four Juno Awards last month, the Victoria-native launched her first U.S. tour and then flew to Los Angeles to play at Elton John's post-Oscar bash at his invitation. The two singers dueted on her tune Legend, with John using cue cards in order to remember the lyrics, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Then when P.J. Harvey became sick, Furtado was added as U2's opener on two of their early Elevation dates -- March 29 and 30.

She's also a last-minute addition to the all-star lineup celebrating Aretha Franklin on a VH-1 Divas Live special tomorrow night in New York City at Radio City Music Hall. The event, also featuring Jill Scott, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and salsa star Celia Cruz, will air on MuchMoreMusic on April 29 at 9 p.m.

Additionally, Furtado appears on a reworking of hip-hop star Missy Elliott's new single, Get UR Freak On.

"I did remix for her and it was really fun," said Furtado, wearing an Ed The Sock T-shirt, blue jeans and runners along with her trademark gold hoop earrings. "She's great, I'm a big fan. It's probably going to come out on a soundtrack in June. Still, not for sure yet, but people will hear it eventually -- it's a cool track."

Furtado spontaneously burst into a freestyle sample of the Elliott song yesterday and said that she's playing the recording of it before her own live shows. She begins a Canadian tour on April 17 in Victoria with a three-week European tour to follow and more North American dates in July.

In addition to answering questions yesterday, Furtado and her six-piece band performed three songs from her fast-selling trip-pop debut, Whoa, Nelly!, which has sold 250,000 copies in Canada alone since its October release.

Included on the set list was a slowed-down, acoustic version of her breakthrough first single, I'm Like A Bird. Furtado said this new version is going to be released to radio -- in the U.S. at least.

"Everybody was excited about that song and it's a fluke that we recorded it," she said. "It was one of those things I wrote at the last minute. I got to L.A., we were finishing the record, and I just woke up the first day in L.A. and I just bought a new guitar, I wrote three songs and one of them was I'm Like A Bird. And it came together really quick."

And despite the young, female-heavy crowd at MuchMusic yesterday, where the studio was decorated like a Brazilian rainforest, Furtado insisted her music is appealing to a much more diverse audience.

"I've gotten all sorts of letters from young women and men," said Furtado. "The cool thing at my shows, I see men and women. I see all different cultures. I see all different belief systems. I see so many different ages, it's incredible. And it made me so happy from day one."