Biography
Who is Nelly Furtado?
Early life and background
Nelly Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Her parents, António José Furtado and Maria Manuela Furtado, were born on São Miguel Island in the Azores and immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s. She grew up with her elder siblings, Michael Anthony and Lisa Anne, in a Catholic household. At age four, she began performing and singing in Portuguese, participating in a public performance on Portugal Day with her mother.
She started learning musical instruments at the age of nine, initially playing the trombone and ukulele before moving on to the guitar and keyboards. By age twelve, she began writing songs and later performed in a Portuguese marching band. She attended Mount Douglas Secondary School, graduating in 1996 before moving to Toronto to live with her sister and work at an alarm company.
Music career beginnings
In Toronto, she met Tallis Newkirk of the hip-hop group Plains of Fascination and contributed vocals to their 1996 album, Join the Ranks. They formed a trip hop duo named Nelstar, but she eventually left the group because she felt the style was too segregated. In 1997, she performed at the Honey Jam talent show, which caught the attention of Gerald Eaton from The Philosopher Kings.
Eaton and fellow band member Brian West helped her produce a demo recording. Her attorney Chris Taylor shopped the material to record companies, leading to a record deal with DreamWorks Records in 1999. Her debut single, Party's Just Begun (Again), was released that year on the soundtrack album for the film Brokedown Palace.
Breakthrough with Whoa, Nelly!
She continued working with Eaton and West on her debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly!, which came out in October 2000. The release became an international success and featured the hit singles I'm Like a Bird, Turn Off the Light, and On the Radio (Remember the Days). Her debut single earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2002.
The album received critical acclaim for its innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. She followed this release with her second album, Folklore, in November 2003. Folklore featured the track Força, which served as the official anthem of the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament.
Loose and later projects
Her third studio album, Loose, was released in June 2006 and was primarily produced by Timbaland. The album became the most successful release of her career, selling over ten million copies worldwide and producing number-one singles such as Promiscuous, Maneater, Say It Right, and All Good Things (Come to an End). During this period, she also collaborated with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on the track Give It to Me.
Later in her career, she released a Spanish-language album titled Mi Plan in 2009, which won a Latin Grammy Award. She subsequently released The Spirit Indestructible in 2012, followed by independent releases including The Ride in 2017 through her own label, Nelstar Entertainment, and the album 7 in 2024.
Birthday and age
Nelly Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, which makes Nelly 47 years old today. That birthday falls under the Sagittarius sign. Nelly shares the date with 27 other famous people.
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