Nelly Furtado

Furtado is the daughter of António José Furtado and Maria Manuela Furtado, Portuguese immigrants from São Miguel Island in the Azores. She has two elder siblings, Michael Anthony and Lisa Anne, and was raised Catholic in Victoria, British Columbia. She has three children. Her daughter Nevis Gahunia was born in September 2003 during Furtado's relationship with Jasper Gahunia, which lasted from 2001 to 2005. She later had a daughter and a son with American rapper Jerry, formerly known as Hodgy Beats.

Furtado married sound engineer Demacio Castellón on July 19, 2008. They separated in 2016. Castellón had worked with her on Loose.

Furtado began performing and singing in Portuguese at age four, including a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. She learned to play the trombone and ukulele at age nine and later added guitar and keyboards. She began writing songs at age 12 and performed as a teenager in a Portuguese marching band.

After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto and contributed vocals to the 1996 album Join the Ranks by Plains of Fascination. She later formed the trip hop duo Nelstar with Tallis Newkirk. Following a performance at the Honey Jam talent show in 1997, she began writing with Gerald Eaton and Brian West, whose demo work helped lead to her 1999 contract with DreamWorks Records.

Furtado's debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly!, was released in 2000. Its singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light" both reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, while "I'm Like a Bird" won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The album's mixture of pop, trip hop, world music and other influences established her reputation for musical experimentation.

Her second album, Folklore, followed in 2003 and took a more introspective, folk-oriented approach while exploring her Portuguese heritage. It included "Força," which became the official anthem of the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament. Furtado performed the song in Lisbon during the tournament final, when Portugal's national team played.

Released in 2006, Loose marked a major change in Furtado's sound and image. Primarily produced by Timbaland, the album incorporated R&B, hip hop and 1980s-inspired music. It became her best-selling release and produced the worldwide number-one singles "Promiscuous," "Maneater," "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)." Furtado also joined Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on "Give It to Me," which topped charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. Her duet with James Morrison, "Broken Strings," became a major European hit.

Furtado released her first Spanish-language album, Mi Plan, in 2009. The album won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album, making her the first Portuguese-Canadian recipient of a Latin Grammy. She founded the Nelstar record label with Last Gang Labels and later released The Ride through Nelstar Entertainment in 2017.

Her seventh studio album, 7, was released in 2024. During her later career she collaborated with artists including K'naan, Juanes, Dom Dolla, Bomba Estéreo, Tove Lo and SG Lewis. She also reunited with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on the 2023 single "Keep Going Up." In October 2025, she announced her retirement from live performances for the foreseeable future while pursuing other creative and personal endeavors.

Furtado has received ten Juno Awards, a Grammy Award, a Latin Grammy Award, a BRIT Award, a Billboard Music Award, an MTV Europe Music Award, a World Music Award and three MuchMusic Video Awards. She received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2010 and was appointed a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry in 2014.

Her musical influences include Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, Indian music, hip hop, R&B, alternative music and trip hop. She has cited Ani DiFranco, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Prince, Björk and Radiohead among her influences. She is also a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and has supported girls' education initiatives in Kenya.

Furtado revealed in 2023 that she had been diagnosed with ADHD. In addition to music, she has appeared in projects including CSI: NY, Max Payne, A Date with Miss Fortune and Canada's Drag Race.