'''Nelly Kim Furtado''' (born December 2 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and record producer.
Furtado came to fame in 2000 with the release of her debut album ''Whoa, Nelly!'', which featured the Grammy Award-winning single "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn off the Light". After giving birth to daughter Nevis and releasing the less commercially successful ''Folklore'' (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of ''Loose'' and its hit singles, "Promiscuous" and "Maneater".
Furtado is known for her musical eclecticism, continually experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.
Biography
Early years and influences
Furtado, a first-generation Portuguese Canadian, was born as one of three children in Victoria, British Columbia to Maria Manuela and Antonio Jose Furtado, working-class Portuguese parents from São Miguel Island in the Azores. She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.
Furtado's parents emigrated from Portugal to Canada in the late 1970s. [ ] She has stated that visiting her parents' birthplace, the Azores islands, as a child and experiencing its culture and learning the Portuguese language has made her an open-minded person. [ This has strongly influenced her artistry as she has incorporated many cross-cultural sounds into her music. It is also evident in her multilingualism as she can speak English, Portuguese, Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Urdu. ][ Furtado has acknowledged her parents as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, 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 first sang at the age of four when she performed a duet with her mother at church on Portugal Day. [ She began playing instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and, in later years, the guitar and keyboard. She began writing songs at the age of twelve ][ and, as a teenager, she played in a Portuguese marching band. ]
During these early years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative rock, alternative hip hop, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, and Indian music), and a variety of others. [ ][ Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Caetano Veloso, Amalia Rodrigues, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, Mariah Carey, TLC,
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