Possessed of a pure and brilliant voice (B3-F6), first three then two and a half octaves trained in the bel canto technique, and noted for her graceful appearance and stage presence,[3][4][5] she enjoyed a twenty-year career as a top-rank international singer before her 1888 retirement.

[11] As a young child she received a rudimentary education, attending the local village free school where she learnt to read and write.

Adelaide de Leuhusen's sister, the artist Bertha Valerius, was planning a trip there anyway, and would be able to act as a chaperone while Nilsson got settled in.

[21] In the autumn of 1861, therefore, Adelaide de Leuhusen transferred Nilsson to Pierre François Wartel, who had been a student of the famous singer Adolphe Nourrit.

This came to nothing, after the impresario went bankrupt, leaving Nilsson free in 1864 to accept an offer from Caroline Miolan-Carvalho and her husband Léon Carvalho, prima donna and manager respectively of the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris.

[23][22] Other London performances included the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (May 1868) and "Cherubino" in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (June 1868).

[3] Nilsson made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1869 in Lucia di Lammermoor, and also sang the first London performance of Hamlet.

Further London performances between 1869 and 1874, Nilsson dividing her time between Covent Garden, Drury Lane, and Her Majesty's Theatre, and singing work by artists as varied as Mozart, Meyerbeer, Ambroise Thomas, Wagner, Verdi, and Michael Balfe.

[22] After her first successful US tour Nilsson returned to England and married the French stockbroker Auguste Rouzaud (b.1837) The wedding in Westminster Abbey, London, on July 27, 1872, was boycotted by the groom's family.

[11] Composer Piotr Tchaikovsky heard Nilsson's interpretation of "Marguerite" in Faust at her Moscow debut in November 1872, and claimed she embodied Goethe's ideals.

Her performances in Russia were well received by audiences, including the Tsar and Tsarina, who gifted her valuable jewelry (now on display at Smålands Museum in Växjö).

In the summer of 1880, she presented the double roles of "Margherita" and "Helen of Troy" in Arrigo Boito's opera Mefistofele for the first time at performances at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

Nilsson then continued with her tour, giving further concerts in Scandinavia, Germany, Prague, and Vienna, including her first recital in Berlin (9 November 1885).

Now she was remarried, Nilsson decided to retire, marking the occasion by giving two farewell performances at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1888.

[11] In 1894, Nilsson published Om röstens utbildning: Några råd till unga sångerskor ("Some advice for young singers").

[29][30] Towards the end of his life, Leroux claimed the character was based on a real opera singer "whose real name I hid under that of Christine Daaé",[30] and details of Nilsson's early life heavily reflect details in the fictitious Christine Daaé's history,[29][30][31] even to the point of using ideas and language from contemporary reviews of Nilsson's performances in Faust in 1869.

[32] Nilsson is a minor character in the first episode of Season 2 of the television series The Gilded Age, and was played by Sarah Joy Miller.