Grammy winner Nelly Furtado is engaged to sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellon, who worked on her hit 2006 album
Loose, PEOPLE confirms.
Their close friend, music producer Timbaland, gave a one-word reply when asked if the engagement was true: "Yes."
The British Columbia-born Furtado, 28, told
Blender in July 2006 she had a "secret boyfriend" of eight months, adding: "I just don't really talk about it. It's nobody famous or anything."
Furtado has a daughter, Nevis, 3, with her ex-boyfriend, DJ and producer Jasper "Lil' Jaz" Gahunia. She and Gahunia split in 2005 after four years together, but Furtado told
Blender: "We're fully active co-parents and really close friends."
Asked why the two had never married, Furtado said, "I'm kind of modern. I don't really live by society's standards. Maybe in the next five years I'll get married, have more kids. One grandmother had eight kids, the other had 10. If I have that many kids, then I would need a hubby."
Furtado, who speaks Spanish and Portuguese and is currently recording her first Latin album, pulled off
a clean sweep of Canada's Juno music awards in April. Nominated in five categories, she won every one including album of the year.
The engagement was first reported by Perezhilton.com.