Portrait of Nelly Furtado

Birthday profile

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Born
December 2, 1978
Age in 2026
48
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1978

About Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted Furtado's musical versatility and experimentation with genres. Furtado rose to prominence with her trip hop-influenced debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly! (2000), which was a critical and commercial success and spawned the top-10 Billboard Hot 100 singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light". The former track earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She followed it with the more introspective, folk-oriented Folklore (2003), which drew on her Portuguese heritage and performed less successfully than her debut. Her third studio album, Loose (2006), sold over 10 million copies worldwide, becoming her best-selling release and one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. Marked by a reinvention of her image and sound, the album produced the worldwide number-one singles "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland), "Maneater", "Say It Right", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". During this period, she also featured alongside Justin Timberlake on Timbaland's "Give It to Me" (2007) and recorded the European hit duet "Broken Strings" with James Morrison (2008). Furtado later released Mi Plan (2009), a Spanish-language album, which won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album, followed by The Spirit Indestructible (2012). After becoming independent, she released The Ride (2017) through her own label, Nelstar Entertainment [pt], and 7 (2024). Throughout her career, she has received numerous accolades, including one Grammy Award from seven nominations, one Latin Grammy Award, ten Juno Awards, one Brit Award, one Billboard Music Award, one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, and three MuchMusic Video Awards. She also has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame and was appointed a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry in 2014. Furtado's third studio album, Loose (2006), became her bestselling album, with more than 10 million copies sold worldwide, also making it one of the bestselling albums of the 2000s. Furtado first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly! (2000), which was a critical and commercial success that spawned two top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light". The former won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Nelly Furtado timeline

  1. Furtado first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly! (2000), which was a critical and commercial success that spawned two top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light".
  2. Furtado's third studio album, Loose (2006), became her bestselling album, with more than 10 million copies sold worldwide, also making it one of the bestselling albums of the 2000s.

The world when Nelly Furtado was born

Nelly Furtado was born in 1978. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1978

  • #1 song"Shadow Dancing" – Andy Gibb
  • Top movieThe Deer Hunter
  • Top TV showLaverne & Shirley
  • Best-selling bookThe World According to Garp – John Irving

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMuhammad Ali wins heavyweight title for the third time
  • Top headlineCamp David Accords — Egypt and Israel sign peace agreement
  • Technology milestoneFirst spam email sent
  • Defining fadDisco and Saturday Night Fever
  • Notable inventionGarfield comic strip debuts
  • World population4.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJimmy Carter
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonWashington Bullets (NBA)
  • U.S. population222.6M

1978 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Nelly Furtado's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19782026
Gas$0.63$3.45/gal
Average home$55,700$435,000
Average income$17,730$67,500
Minimum wage$2.65$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$2.34$11.95
Postage stamp$0.15$0.73
Population222.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, MusicBrainz. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.