Nelson was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a strong and dedicated enthusiast of music composition and photography, having started to play piano and keyboards at the age of six. The professional side of music came in 1995, when he completed his first studio and started to produce chillout tracks. His style is deeply influenced by the Balearic mood and the soft side of the cool Ibiza movement, like being the Cafe Del Mar music and alike. After so many years of music writing, Nelson traveled through a few common music genres like progressive ambient, lounge, electronica and dance. As a result of these incursions he achieved his own style that is based on a set of visions and emotions that represent his musical evolution throughout life in itself. Photography came a bit later. During year 2000 transition was made from a simple hobby up to a venerated passion.

In terms of music and as years passed by, Nelson improved his own setup, moved into complex synthesizers, electronic modules, mixing desks, control surfaces and a fully computer-based music core. All along his musical carrier Nelson had some major inputs on his way through the music business. The most important was perhaps his integration into the German record label Blue Dye. While living in Munich for a couple of years, he met Blue Dye's manager and their common vision and sound influences led them to a partnership that keeps lasting since then. Nelson started producing together with Nurhee and remixing some of his dance tracks. At a certain point they merged their studio setups, leading both to a wide experience in terms of techniques and musical expertise. During the following years they managed to release some tracks together. For Nelson’s side, he produced "Take Me - Nelson Vaz Remix" in 2001, a Nurhee’s original hit, and some partnerships with other musicians ended up in the famous "It's Over - Nelson Vaz Remix" from Tom Novy, released by the record label Kosmo Music and “Take It Back” from Simon Wood vs. LBJ, during 2002 and 2003 respectively. During summer 2002 Nelson had some of his hits playing in Ibiza, on a joint-venture between himself and a Blue Dye project that also included Kosmo Music. Additionally, he had some of his productions on a track list for a radio station in Algarve, southern Portugal, during approximately two years. Nelson moved his life to Madrid a couple of years after teaming up with Blue Dye, but the link remained solid. Based on such musical experiences, Nelson headed to Ibiza during Summer 2007. Back to the routes, he joined Nurhee and some other DJs and artists on the island, in order to define the incoming future and some chillout partnerships. In 2008, while living split between Lisbon and Paris, Nelson released a Werner Bethke's "Emotion - Nelson Vaz Remix" and, by the first quarter of 2009, part of the studio setup was moved to Brazil, country where he currently lives. A few months later he made his first official presentation in southern Brazil, city of Porto Alegre. During the last quarter of 2009 and early 2010, all studio components arrived in Brazil and the final local setup was finally rearranged. In 2010 Blue Dye released Nelson's "Be Sensual EP" (BD005) over Apple iTunes Store and all major music stores online. This EP contained three exclusive tracks: "Be Sensual - Late Night Mix", "Be Sensual - Ezequiel Sanchez Remix" and "Just Be - Seashore Mix". Yet during 2010 DI.FM (Digitally Imported Radio) from the USA, actually one of the most popular internet radio stations worldwide, selected Nelson's "Just Be - Seashore Mix" to become number one on its playing list over the "Chillout Dreams" channel and on the "Shinning Sleep" show run by Solarsoul. By early 2011 there was a huge transformation on Nelson's music stutio, as the whole setup started to be remodeled, for nearly six months, and the core platform upgraded to Apple's Macintosh.  And last but not least, 2012 started with a new EP release from Blue Dye, the “Halophyte Chillout EP” (BD012) that included two tracks from Nelson: the original tune “Storms in Africa” and his remix of “Trust”, a Werner Bethke's composition. This EP is now commercially available worldwide.

Back to photography, Nelson sees it like a sort kind of filtered window regarding the external world. A way to catch and express various images from a previously perceived reality, designing the viewer's understanding for each shot taken. It intends to be an artistic expression of various playgrounds, by providing a different perception of the same theme or reality. Nelson shoots pictures mostly for composing his images of life in itself, rendering his perspectives of people, places and moments at a given time and grabbing visions of cities around the world, architectural lines, landscapes and nature. Most of his best shots were taken while travelling and dedicating most of his silence to photography. Nelson's gear comprehends a couple of analogue and professional digital SLRs, a set of fixed range and telephoto lenses, as well as dedicated filters, tripods and all the inherent electronic add-ons, plus a set of compact cameras for easy shooting anytime and anyplace. Film cameras represented Nelson's main school years ago, however the digital world is now widely preferred these days.

By merging photography and music, Nelson intends to translate the world outside through his own emotional path and guidelines. At the same time it allows him to express a full set of personal feelings over his own images and sounds. It represents his unique way of living, of seeing and feeling the world and the people around him.

Nelson's photo gallery