There's no mistaking that slippery silky voice or those smoky eyes and chanteuse style.

Leslie Feist is the famous songstress who received four Grammy nominations this year, and is nominated for five Junos for her third solo album, The Reminder.

She's been photographed by Annie Liebovitz for Vanity Fair magazine, appeared on Saturday Night Live, had her tune 1234 used in an iPod commercial, and she's just getting warmed up.

In every photo taken she is demure, shunning extravagant designer labels and opting for classic vintage dresses and pearls.

But, there was a time when the beautiful songwriter and musician could be seen around Calgary in her Doc Martin boots and baby doll dresses, maybe tipping a pint at the Ship and Anchor on 17th Ave. or gracing the stage at Republik bar with her '90s rock band Placebo.

In fact, if you Google the phrase "Leslie Feist, Placebo, Pale Pink Tiger" a video will come up featuring a very different Feist than the one who will hit the stage in Calgary at the 2008 Juno Awards.

This girl has a nose ring, and she head bangs. This girl used to sing grunge tunes at the top of her lungs until she strained out her voice and moved to Toronto, and then Paris, to take a break from it all.

Feist was born in Nova Scotia, but she spent most of her formative years right here in Cowtown, carving out a musical path that would end up taking her around the world.

She recorded her first major solo release, Let it Die, in 2001 and the rest is history -- Leslie Feist became Feist, Canada's indie queen.

For the friends and bandmates who used to know her way back when, it's no surprise she's taken the world by storm.

Former band and roommate Elescia Eisler says she can remember the moment she realized her old buddy was starting to become an international phenomenon.

"The first realization I had that she might be something big was when a friend of mine showed me a European art magazine," says Eisler.

"There she was, in a designer fashion outfit riding a horse with her hair blowing in the breeze for a large article on the top 50 amazing women in Europe or something."

As a child, Feist spent time in Saskatchewan and then Calgary.

The now-32-year-old first learned how to sing in choir.

As a pre-teen, she performed with other dancers in the opening ceremonies of the Calgary Winter Olympics.

The experience inspired her during the making of the video for 1234.

"Very strangely, the sparkly blue suite was sort of subliminal, it was kind of subconscious," Feist said in an interview with Sun Media in February. "It wasn't until I went back to Calgary and I was rooting through my mom's basement storage cupboard and I found my old costume from that Olympic thing that I realized it was sparkly sequined blue; I had subliminally wanted to wear blue in the video.

"And then I thought, 'Oh, my God, it's all braided together.' "

By the mid-'90s, she had left Calgary for Toronto where she helped form rock conglomerate Broken Social Scene with Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew.

She has collaborated with good friend and fellow alt-musician Peaches, who she also roomed with in Toronto.

Eisler and Feist were in a Calgary-based band called Placebo that made their name in the early '90s playing clubs across Canada and opening for the likes of Radiohead, Everclear and The Jesus Lizard.

Feist was lead singer and Eisler played bass.

The first few gigs Placebo had were at high schools, then a battle of the bands competition at the Republik in which they won first place.

"It landed us a spot on the main stage at InFest, a huge musical festival where we played with the likes of the Ramones. After that, things took off like crazy," says Eisler.

At that time Eisler says there were few female-fronted acts in Calgary, and Feist's voice set her apart.

"She was compared to Bjork and PJ Harvey," she says. "Our heavy sound, combined with Leslie's vocals, gave us a really unique edge on the scene.

"The main difference in her that I see between then and now is that she's singing much more softly and dynamically than she ever did in Placebo. She's also a great guitar player; she taught herself."

Fellow Calgary-based musician and artist Kris Demeanor says he can also remember Feist's first few notes on the bass and guitar.

"She picked it up with freakish efficiency," he says.

Demeanor, Eisler, Feist and drummer Jay Woolley rented a house together in Calgary's Beltline district in the mid-'90s.

"She left for Toronto, but not before giving me a pair of faux alligator skin lounge shoes from her job at the Salvation Army, which became my gig shoes for five years, and selling me her bass guitar, which I have been using on my demo recordings ever since," says Demeanor.

Eisler says Feist was always an amazing songwriter.

"She used to keep a dream journal, which she would pillage for lyrics all of the time, but the way she puts them together has always been very whimsical and magical," says Eisler.

"She deserves the success she has, she works hard for it -- not to mention she has an amazing voice."