Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress whose two-decade music career has produced multiple defining 21st-century international pop-and-R&B-fusion albums — particularly her 2000 first commercial album Whoa, Nelly! and her 2006 third commercial album Loose. She was born Nelly Kim Furtado on December 2, 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, into a Portuguese-Canadian family. Her father António José Furtado was a Portuguese stonemason and her mother Maria Manuela Furtado was a homemaker. Both her parents emigrated from the Azores islands of Portugal in 1967 and 1968.

Her 1996 first appearance as a backup singer for the Toronto-based Canadian-Portuguese trip-hop group Nelstar at age 17 — and her subsequent 1997–1999 Toronto-area solo songwriting career — launched her late-1990s Canadian songwriter public profile. Her 1999 DreamWorks Records signing — at age 21 — launched her 2000 first commercial album Whoa, Nelly!.

The October 24, 2000 first commercial album Whoa, Nelly! — released by DreamWorks Records — launched her early-2000s international pop-and-R&B-fusion public profile through her single "I'm Like a Bird" (which won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance). The album sold over six million copies worldwide.

Her 2006 third commercial album Loose — released June 20, 2006 by Geffen Records and produced by hip-hop producer Timbaland — launched her mid-2000s international pop-and-R&B commercial peak. The Loose album produced four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles — "Promiscuous" (with Timbaland), "Maneater," "Say It Right," and "All Good Things (Come to an End)" — and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Her subsequent career has produced multiple Spanish-language and English-language commercial albums — particularly her 2009 Spanish-language commercial album Mi Plan (which won the 2010 Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album), her 2012 sixth commercial album The Spirit Indestructible, and her 2017 seventh commercial album The Ride. She married Cuban-Canadian sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellon in 2008 (divorced 2016).

Her name Nelly began as the English diminutive of Helen (from the Greek Helene meaning "torch" or "shining one"). Nelly was a popular American girls' name through the early-to-mid-20th century.