1978年12月，Nelly Furtado出生在加拿大英屬Columbia區。雖然是在加拿大長大，但Nelly Furtado的父母都是葡萄牙后裔。Nelly Furtado的父母都是普通的工人，而她自己甚至也當過八年的服務生。Nelly Furtado從小就非常喜歡音樂，愛聽瑪麗亞·凱麗（Mariah Carey）和TLC組合等主流R＆B音樂。同時，Nelly還自學了吉他和夏威夷四弦琴。之后，Nelly又迷上了哥哥收藏的Radiohead，Oasis，Portishead，the Verve和U2等樂隊的音樂。對不同音樂類型的喜好也為她日后個人音樂風格的多樣化埋下了伏筆。 在中學畢業之后，Nelly Furtado來到了多倫多，白天在一家警報器公司工作，下班后的時間就到處去看音樂演出。Nelly Furtado還加入了當地一個hip-hop組合Nelstar，這給了她個人創作歌曲的機會。隨后，Nelly開始在多倫多一個小俱樂部里演出，她的音樂才華也開始得到越來越多人的認可。一次，加拿大樂隊The Philosopher Kings的兩位成員Brian West和Gerald Eaton在看到Nelly Furtado的表演之后立即被她所吸引，并主動提出要為Nelly制作小樣。在The Philosopher Kings成員的協助之下，Nelly Furtado成功與Dreamworks簽約并在2000年秋發行首張個人專輯《Whoa, Nelly!》。2001年初，為了宣傳《Whoa, Nelly!》，Nelly在美國舉行了一次巡演，得到評論界和歌迷的一致好評。專輯中的單曲《I'm Like a Bird》和《Turn Off the Light》一時間成為歌迷們談論的焦點。Nelly Furtado獲得2001年第44屆格萊美獎的四項提名，最終憑借《I'm Like a Bird》獲得當年的最佳流行女歌手獎。 2003年9月，Nelly Furtado女兒Nevis誕生。11月，Nelly的第二張個人專輯《Folklore》正式發行。但《Folklore》是令人失望的一張專輯，發行后僅排在Billboard 200專輯榜的第38位，而且整張專輯中都沒有一首像《I'm Like a Bird》一樣的熱門單曲。2006年6月，在兩年半之后，Nelly Furtado帶著她的第三張專輯《Loose》重返歌壇。《Loose》在發行首周的銷量達到21萬9千張，另Nelly輕松得到了她第一個Billboard 200專輯榜的冠軍。Timbaland不僅一人幾乎包攬了本張專輯的制作，而且他與Nelly合唱的單曲《Promiscuous》也成為各國排行榜中點播率很高的熱門單曲，最終在《Loose》上榜的第二天在Billboard Hot 100單曲榜中奪冠。 Singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado heavily credits her ethnic background and childhood for spawning her creativity as a female and as an inspiring musician. Born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Furtado's working-class parents, who are of Portuguese descent, instilled a hardcore work ethic during her upbringing. She spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her housekeeping mother, quickly realizing what it meant to work for a living. She turned to music for enjoyment, learning to play the guitar and the ukulele, and listened to mainstream R&B like Mariah Carey, TLC, Jodeci, Salt-N-Pepa, and Bell Biv DeVoe. Later, she delved into her older brother's collection of Radiohead, Pulp, Oasis, Portishead, the Verve, and U2, pushing Furtado to fully embrace different musical genres, specifically Brazilian music and material by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Amalia Rodrigues. Hip-hop was also a big catalyst in shaping Furtado's musical appreciation. After high school, she headed to Toronto where she worked at an alarm company by day and experienced the music scene by night. She joined a hip-hop duo, Nelstar, and this opportunity led Furtado back to her hip-hop influences of De La Soul and Digable Planets. This allowed her to get comfortable with writing her own melodies and freestyle rhymes. When Furtado started cutting loose at a local Toronto club during the week, her musical aspirations began to swirl. Brian West and Gerald Eaton, of Canadian funk-pop group the Philosopher Kings, were instantly impressed by her strong sense of performing and asked to produce her demo. During those sessions, Furtado created some of the moving work that landed on her debut for Dreamworks, Whoa, Nelly!, released in fall 2000. A headlining tour of the U.S. in spring 2001 sparked more interest from fans and critics, and a spot on Moby's Area:One summer tour allowed singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light" to receive bigger praise. Furtado's greatest achievement followed a year later when she earned four Grammy nods, including Song of the Year for "I'm Like a Bird." Folklore appeared in November 2003, nearly two months after Furtado gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Nevis. The record was a general disappointment, failing to capitalize on the success of her previous work. She didn't return to limelight until summer 2006, with her third record, Loose. Produced almost entirely by Timbaland and boasting a much more appealing and timely style, the album earned significant attention, putting Furtado's career back on the fast track. Lead track "Promiscuous" became an instant hit, earning her a number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Loose also topped the Billboard Top 200 album chart during its first week of release in later June 2006, becoming Furtado's first-ever number one album.