Norah Jones
Norah Jones
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In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2005, having sold over 20 million copies. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her subsequent studio albums, Feels like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007 and her 2009 release The Fall, all gained Platinum status after selling over a million copies and were generally well received by critics.
Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was Billboard magazine's 60th best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and concert producer Sue Jones. She is the half-sister of Anoushka Shankar. After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas, where she attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While in high school, Jones sang in the school choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with the blessings of her parents, she officially changed her name to "Norah Jones".
Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, among other 'oldies'. She once said, "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set; I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again." She considers Willie Nelson her mentor. She began singing in church choirs and took piano lessons as a child. She still attends church. She considers herself spiritual and appreciates the ritual of church but does not consider herself the religious type. She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996).
Jones went to the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers. It was during this time she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris, which would later catapult her to fame. She was to pick up a band playing at the university that also happened to be friends of Jesse Harris. Jesse Harris was making a stop on a cross-country road-trip with his friend, and future The Little Willies member, Richard Julian, to see the same band play. After meeting, Harris was soon sending her lead sheets of his songs. In 1999, she left for New York City. Less than a year later she started a band with Harris.
After moving to New York City, Norah Jones signed a deal with Blue Note Records, a EMI Group owned label, and released a demo, First Sessions in 2001. Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist. Prior to the release of her first album, she performed with Wax Poetic, Peter Malick and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter.
Jones' debut album, Come Away with Me, was released in February 2002 and was celebrated for its blending of mellow, acoustic pop with soul and jazz. After debuting at #139 it climbed to #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The single "Don't Know Why" hit #1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003 and #30 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
In 2003, she won five Grammy Awards, Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why" at the 45th Grammy Awards. At the time, this was the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night (tying with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys). The same night, Jesse Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for composing "Don't Know Why", Arif Mardin won Producer of the Year, primarily for his work on Come Away With Me, and the album also received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
The album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 22, 2002, and went on to become a diamond album on February 15, 2005. It remains the highest-selling album in the history of Blue Note Records.
Jones released her second album, Feels like Home, on February 9, 2004. Rather than repeat the softer, jazz mood of Come Away with Me, her second album was influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, Feels like Home had sold over a million copies. It sold 4 million copies in the United States and was certified four times Platinum by the RIAA and It sold ten million copies worldwide. Jones toured globally again, to promote the album with the Handsome Band, and the addition of backing singer Daru Oda.
Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was Billboard magazine's 60th best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and concert producer Sue Jones. She is the half-sister of Anoushka Shankar. After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas, where she attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While in high school, Jones sang in the school choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with the blessings of her parents, she officially changed her name to "Norah Jones".
Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, among other 'oldies'. She once said, "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set; I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again." She considers Willie Nelson her mentor. She began singing in church choirs and took piano lessons as a child. She still attends church. She considers herself spiritual and appreciates the ritual of church but does not consider herself the religious type. She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996).
Jones went to the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers. It was during this time she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris, which would later catapult her to fame. She was to pick up a band playing at the university that also happened to be friends of Jesse Harris. Jesse Harris was making a stop on a cross-country road-trip with his friend, and future The Little Willies member, Richard Julian, to see the same band play. After meeting, Harris was soon sending her lead sheets of his songs. In 1999, she left for New York City. Less than a year later she started a band with Harris.
After moving to New York City, Norah Jones signed a deal with Blue Note Records, a EMI Group owned label, and released a demo, First Sessions in 2001. Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist. Prior to the release of her first album, she performed with Wax Poetic, Peter Malick and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter.
Jones' debut album, Come Away with Me, was released in February 2002 and was celebrated for its blending of mellow, acoustic pop with soul and jazz. After debuting at #139 it climbed to #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The single "Don't Know Why" hit #1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003 and #30 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
In 2003, she won five Grammy Awards, Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why" at the 45th Grammy Awards. At the time, this was the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night (tying with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys). The same night, Jesse Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for composing "Don't Know Why", Arif Mardin won Producer of the Year, primarily for his work on Come Away With Me, and the album also received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
The album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 22, 2002, and went on to become a diamond album on February 15, 2005. It remains the highest-selling album in the history of Blue Note Records.
Jones released her second album, Feels like Home, on February 9, 2004. Rather than repeat the softer, jazz mood of Come Away with Me, her second album was influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, Feels like Home had sold over a million copies. It sold 4 million copies in the United States and was certified four times Platinum by the RIAA and It sold ten million copies worldwide. Jones toured globally again, to promote the album with the Handsome Band, and the addition of backing singer Daru Oda.
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