Nelly Furtado

Birth name: Nelly Kim Furtado
Date of birth: 2 December 1978
Place of birth: Victoria, Canada

Career highlights: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy Award, 2001, for single I’m Like A Bird. Five Canadian Juno Awards 2007, including Album and Single Of The Year Highest Charting Singles: Maneater, number one, 2006, Give It To Me with Timberlake and Timbaland, number one, 2007

Nelly was named after the Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim. She has always had diverse music taste, helped in part by her part-Candadian part-Portuguese upbringing. By nine the wannabe starlight had already dueted with her mother at church and mastered the trombone and ukulele. By 12 she was charging full-steam ahead, writing her own songs and performing in a Portuguese marching band.

After high school she worked at an alarm company by day, delving into the Toronto music scene at night. The party girl eventually hooked up with hip hop duo Nelstar, before signing to Dreamworks.

A string of hits followed, then a quiet patch while the songstress embraced domestic life, giving birth to a baby girl called Nevis.

She didn't return to limelight until summer 2006, with her third record, Loose. Produced almost entirely by Timbaland, who updated her urban sound, the album earned tons of kudos, putting her career back on the fast track. Steamy lead single Promiscuous became an instant hit, followed by Maneater and her 2007 collaboration with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, Give It To Me.