Furtado, a first-generation Canadian, was born as one of three children to working class Azorean-Portuguese parents (from São Miguel Island), in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.
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 and 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.
Furtado's parents emigrated from Portugal to Canada in the late ...More
