Nelly Furtado

Biography of Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado was born on December 2, 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia. She is a Portuguese-Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and among other Grammy award winners. She is also an actress and presenter and has released six albums since the turn of the millennium.

Nelly Furtado was born the third child of Portuguese immigrants Maria Manuela and António José Furtado. She was named after the Soviet gymnast Nelli Kim. Her parents raised her in the Roman Catholic faith and the belief that hard work is the only way to get ahead in life.

Furtado is fluent in English and Portuguese and has sung songs in both of those languages, as well as in Spanish and Hindi. At the age of twelve, Furtado began to write her first own songs. She initially turned to pop music, but opened up to a wide musical spectrum as a teenager and mainly listened to R&B, hip-hop and Brazilian music. Through her brother, she also came into contact with the music of rock groups such as Radiohead, The Verve and Oasis. During a summer trip through Europe, Furtado got to know the old Portuguese music style fado.

After her success at the 2002 Grammy Awards, Furtado made the decision to settle down and start a family. At the time, she was dating Jasper Gahunia, known as DJ Lil'Jaz. Gahunia was therefore also involved in the creation of Furtado's first two albums.

A few months later, Furtado announced that she was pregnant by Gahunia and expecting her first child. On September 20, 2003, she gave birth to a daughter in Toronto. Furtado and Gahunia split in 2005 after four years of dating, but remain friends.

She kept her relationship with sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellón, who also worked on her third album Loose, a secret for a long time. In the summer of 2007 she announced her engagement to Castellón, on July 19, 2008 the secret wedding of the two followed. During an appearance on the British TV talk show Loose Women in April 2017, she announced the separation from Castellón, which had already taken place in the summer of 2016.