| Birth name |
Nelly Kim Furtado |
|---|
| Born |
December 2, 1978 (age 33) |
| Origin |
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres |
Pop, rock, folk, R&B, Latin pop, hip hop, dance pop, world music |
| Occupations |
Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, actress |
| Instruments |
Vocals, guitar, keyboards, ukulele, trombone |
| Years active |
1996–present |
Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, in
Victoria, British Columbia, to
Portuguese parents, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, both immigrants from the
Azores.
She was named after
Soviet gymnast
Nellie Kim.
Her parents were born on
São Miguel Island and emigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.
Her siblings are Michael Anthony and Lisa Anne. She was raised in a Roman Catholic home.
At age four, she began performing and singing in Portuguese.
Furtado's first public performance was when she sang a duet with her mother at a church on
Portugal Day. She began playing musical instruments at the age of nine, learning the
trombone,
ukulele and – in later years – the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12, she began writing songs,
and as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.
Furtado has acknowledged her family as the source of her strong work
ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother,
along with her brother and sister, who was a housekeeper in Victoria.
She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.
Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album,
Whoa, Nelly!,
which was released in October 2000. Following the release of the album,
Furtado headlined the "Burn in the Spotlight Tour" and also appeared on
Moby's
Area:One tour. The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: "
I'm like a Bird", "
Turn off the Light", and "
...On the Radio (Remember the Days)". It received four Grammy nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's work was also critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds.
Slant Magazine
called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of
'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music
at the turn of the millennium".
The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had
traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional
music that's upbeat and hopeful".
According to
Maclean's magazine,
Whoa, Nelly! had sold six million copies worldwide as of August 2006.
Portions of the song "Scared of You" are in Portuguese, while "Onde
Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese
heritage.
The International Release of "Whoa Nelly" featured fellow Canadian
Esthero on the song titled "I Feel You". In 2002, Furtado appeared on the song "Thin Line", on
underground hip hop group
Jurassic 5's album
Power in Numbers.
The same year, Furtado provided her vocals to the Paul Oakenfold's song "The Harder They Come" from the album
Bunkka and also made the song "These words are my own". She also had a collaboration with Colombian artist
Juanes, in the song "Fotografia" where she showed her diversity of yet another language. Furtado was also featured in "Breathe" from
Swollen Members "Monsters in the Closet" release; the video for "Breathe," directed by
Spawn creator
Todd MacFarlane, won the 2003 Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Video and MuchVIBE Best Rap Video.
