Extreme

After playing in the Boston-based hair metal act Sinful,^[4] Bettencourt rose to fame as a guitarist for the Boston-area group Extreme,^[5][6] which he joined in 1985.^[7] The band released its debut record, Extreme, in 1989.^[8] The final track on the album, "Play with Me", was used as the "mall chase" song in the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.^[9]

In 1990, Extreme released its next album, Pornograffitti, which included the hits "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted". The acoustic ballad "More Than Words" entered the Hot 100 on March 23, 1991, at No. 81. It later became a huge smash, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.^[9] "Hole Hearted" was also successful, rising to No. 4 on the same popular music chart.^[10] Pornograffitti garnered admiration for Bettencourt from rock guitar enthusiasts. He was voted "Best New Talent" in a 1991 readers' poll by Guitar World magazine,^[11][12] and that magazine later named him "Most Valuable Player" of 1991.^[13] Queen guitarist Brian May has called Bettencourt's solo from the song "Get the Funk Out" "a landmark in rock history that I think should have its own little medal struck and awarded to Nuno Bettencourt and Extreme."^[14]

The band followed up with III Sides to Every Story in 1992. The album featured brass and string sections, as well as a full orchestra, whose parts were composed and arranged by Bettencourt. In 1995, Extreme released the album Waiting for the Punchline, but the band broke up in 1996 when Bettencourt decided to pursue a solo career.^[3]

In 2007, Extreme reformed with its original lineup (with the exception of Paul Geary) to begin work on a new album, Saudades de Rock. The album was released on August 12, 2008.^[15]

Other projects

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Bettencourt provided rhythm guitar on the single version of Janet Jackson's "Black Cat (1990),"^[16] which became a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.^[17]

In 1991, Bettencourt produced Dweezil Zappa's release on Barking Pumpkin Records, Confessions. On this record Bettencourt also sings lead vocals for the first time, on a semi-ballad entitled "The Kiss". Extreme members Gary Cherone and Pat Badger also contributed.

In 1993, Bettencourt co-wrote and produced "Where Are You Going" for the Super Mario Bros. movie. He also joined Robert Palmer in the studio to record Palmer's album Honey. According to former Journey lead singer Steve Perry, Bettencourt has teamed with him to write and arrange songs.^{[citation needed]} He also has written and recorded with Tantric (Bettencourt co-wrote Tantric's hit single "Hey Now"), BB Mak, and Toni Braxton.

In 1997, Bettencourt released his first solo effort, Schizophonic,^[3] which he had been working on for five years. The album was well-received critically, but was not a commercial success.^[3]

On December 16, 1997, Bettencourt's new band Mourning Widows (whose name was inspired by writing he had seen on a church wall in Portugal) released their self-titled debut album in Japan on Polydor Records. It sold 45,000 in the first month. The band featured his nephew Donovan Bettencourt on bass and New York drummer Jeff Consi. In 2000, Mourning Widow's follow-up, Furnished Souls for Rent originally released in Japan, and then in the U.S. Both Mourning Widows releases cultivated a strong following in Japan and New England.

Bettencourt has also collaborated with singer Suze DeMarchi and with all of her Baby Animals bandmates. On Baby Animals' second release, Shaved and Dangerous, he produced a few songs and co-wrote "Because I Can". He also contributed to the writing, recording, and production of DeMarchi's solo debut from 1999, Telelove. In 1999, Bettencourt produced the album Magnolia, for the Portuguese singer and actress Lúcia Moniz. He also featured as singer and guitarist in the song "Try Again", which was included in Magnolia.

Bettencourt formed the recording entity Population 1 and released the self-titled and self-produced 2002 release, Population 1, on Universal/Japan and YBM/Korea. In 2004, Population 1 released Sessions from Room Four. Due to legal issues, the band was renamed to Near Death Experience in 2005. The band was then renamed DramaGods. DramaGods released its first album in December 2005 as an import; it was made available as a digital download in 2006. In 2006, DramaGods contributed their song "S'OK" to the album project Artists for Charity—Guitarists 4 the Kids, produced by Slang Productions to assist World Vision Canada in helping children in need.^[18]

Bettencourt's playing has been featured at 2004 on the Universal/Japan CD and DVD release of Guitar Wars featuring solo and collective performances of Bettencourt with many others, including Steve Hackett (Genesis, GTR), Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Mr. Big/Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert.

Bettencourt was the lead guitarist for Satellite Party, which is a band formed by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell. Bettencourt played with the band at the 2005 Lollapalooza festival. Bettencourt helped produce Ultra Payloaded, the debut album by Satellite Party released on May 29, 2007, on Columbia Records. In late July 2007, Bettencourt departed Satellite Party due to concerns about the direction of the band's live show.

In 2008, Bettencourt was featured on the soundtrack for the motion picture Smart People. The soundtrack also features the Gary Cherone track, "Need I Say More", and Baby Animals selections. The following year, Bettencourt was featured in a song and video called "Best Night Ever"^[19] by Marshall Eriksen, a character on How I Met Your Mother. The video was a parody of Extreme's "More Than Words" video, in which the entire main cast of How I Met Your Mother made appearances.

In November 2009, Bettencourt toured with singer Rihanna on her Last Girl on Earth Tour as lead guitarist, having appeared alongside her in several TV shows and other performances. He has since performed as Rihanna's lead guitarist on every subsequent tour, including her Loud (2010), 777 (2012) and Diamonds World (2013) tours.

In July 2011, Steel Panther reported to Loud magazine that Nuno would be "coming in to do something" on their then-upcoming release Balls Out.^[20] The collaboration resulted in the track "It Won't Suck Itself", which also featured Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger.^[21]

In April 2022, Bettencourt joined Julian Lennon on an acoustic cover of Julian's father John Lennon's hit "Imagine" to benefit Global Citizen's Stand Up For Ukraine.^[22]

On February 12, 2023, Bettencourt performed at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show as part of Rihanna's backing band.^[23]