Norah Jones
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Template:Unreferenced {{Infobox Band | band_name = Norah Jones | image = Image:Norahjonesandoldcarpicture.jpg | years_active = 2002–present | origin = New York City | music_genre = Pop, folk, soul, jazz | record_label = Blue Note }} Norah Jones (born March 30 1979) is an American multi-Grammy Award winning pianist and singer-songwriter whose career was launched with her successful 2002 debut album Come Away with Me, a contemporary pop album with a soul/folk tinge, that sold 20 million copies worldwide and received eight Grammy awards.
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Biography and career
Norah Jones was born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar in New York City, but later changed her name officially to Norah Jones at age 16. She is the daughter of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, and the half-sister of musician Anoushka Shankar. She spent her childhood with her mother, Sue Jones, who moved to Dallas, Texas, when Norah was four. She always liked the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, and she found it intriguing and relieving. Jones attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano, and won Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996). In 1999, two years into the program, Norah left for New York City, where she performed with the band Wax Poetic.
Jones performed quite frequently with guitarist Charlie Hunter in 2001 and appeared on Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album in a duet with André 3000 in 2003. Her music is often compared to that of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.
In early 2002, she released a debut album, Come Away With Me, mellow, acoustic pop with soul and country. It hit #1 on Billboard 200, with single "Don't Know Why" hitting #1 on Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003.
Jones walked away from the Grammy Awards of 2003 with eight awards. By receiving Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist honors all in 2003, Jones was the first artist to sweep the "Big Four", or the four most prestigious Grammy awards, since Christopher Cross did so in the Grammy Awards of 1981. It should be noted that the Song of the Year award went to Jesse Harris for writing "Don't Know Why", but because Jones performed the song, she is associated with winning Song of the Year as well. Of the eight awards that came from "Come Away With Me" at the 2003 Grammy Awards, Jones personally received five awards with the other three awards attributed to the album itself.
Her second album, Feels Like Home, was released 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, making it the highest-selling album in the history of Blue Note Records. In that same year, Time magazine listed Jones among the most influential people of 2004.
Jones received 3 awards at the Grammy Awards of 2005, two for her Record of the Year collaboration with Ray Charles on the song "Here We Go Again." That year, Norah Jones appeared on the self-titled record by Amos Lee.
In the latter part of 2003, rumours emerged that veteran Indian filmmaker Dev Anand was planning to make the film Song of Life, inspired by Norah Jones's troubled relationship with her father, Ravi Shankar. Both Jones and Shankar were enraged by the rumors and Jones's comments were, "He [Anand] has no idea of our story, and he's not going to represent it in a truthful way, I'm sure. It's sad because it's personal stuff and nobody's business but ours."
Norah Jones also collaborated with the Foo Fighters on their 2005 record In Your Honor, singing vocals with Dave Grohl on "Virginia Moon". The song was nominated for a Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2006.
In February 2006, Screen International reported that Norah Jones would make her acting debut in a film by 2046 and Chungking Express director Wong Kar-wai. The film called My Blueberry Nights, would be Wong Kai-wai's English language debut and will be partly funded by StudioCanal and Jet Tone Productions.
Awards
Norah Jones has won multiple awards, most noticeably her Grammy awards (winning 8 awards, plus an additional three received by Come Away with Me, in only 2 years of eligibility)
These are Jones' Grammy Awards:
- 2003 Best Pop Vocal Album - Come Away with Me
- 2003 Album of the Year - Come Away with Me
- 2003 Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical - Come Away with Me
- 2003 Record of the Year - "Don't Know Why"
- 2003 Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - "Don't Know Why"
- 2003 Song Of The Year - "Don't Know Why"
- 2003 Best New Artist
- 2005 Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals - "Here We Go Again" (with Ray Charles)
- 2005 Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - "Sunrise"
- 2005 Record of the Year - "Here We Go Again" (with Ray Charles)
Tours
Throughout 2003 Jones appeared on stages, globally, for her first tour with the Handsome Band, travelling throughout Asia, America, Europe and Australia. The tour was received with numerous sell-out concerts and positive critical acclaim.
In 2005, Norah toured globally again, to promote her 'Feels Like Home' album with the Handsome Band and the addition of backing singer Daru Oda.
Discography
Albums
- First Sessions (EP) (2001)
- Come Away with Me (2002) US #1 (for 4 weeks), UK #1, AUS #1 [Sales:US 10,000,000, 20 million Worldwide]
- Feels Like Home (2004) US #1 (for 6 weeks), UK #1, AUS #1 - [US 4 million, 11 million Worldwide [1] ]
Singles
Compilations
- Artist's Choice: Norah Jones
DVDs and videos
- Live In New Orleans
- Live in 2004
Interview
- Maximum Norah Jones
Chart Position
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US AC | CAN | AUS | |||||
| 2002 | "Don't Know Why" | #30 | #4 | #9 | #3 | Come Away With Me | ||
| 2002 | "Feelin' The Same Way" | - | - | - | - | Come Away With Me | ||
| 2003 | "Come Away With Me" | - | - | #2 | - | Come Away With Me | ||
| 2004 | "Turn Me On" / "Crazy" | - | - | #10 | - | Come Away With Me | ||
| 2004 | "Sunrise" | - | #26 | #4 | - | Feels Like Home | ||
| 2004 | "What Am I To You?" | - | - | - | - | Feels Like Home | ||
| 2004 | "Sleepless Nights" / "Those Sweet Words" | - | - | - | - | Feels Like Home | ||
The Little Willies
The Little Willies is a band formed in 2003 that features Norah Jones on piano and vocals. The other members of the band are Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass and also Dan Rieser, who is the drummer.
However whereas Norah Jones is best known for her jazz influenced records, The Little Willies will showcase her country influences and will feature covers of tracks by Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson.
Discography - Albums
- The Little Willies (Parlophone 3506712)....March 2006
Film
as actor:
My Blueberry Nights.....(Directed by Wong Kai-wai)
See also
- Best selling music artists - World's top-selling music artists chart.
- List of famous short women
External links
- Official Norah Jones website
- Unofficial Norah Jones website
- The rising star of Norah Jones - BBC News article on Jones's career
- BBC News - report on Screen International's page 4 - Feb 17th 2006
- Blue Note Records - Jones's record labelde:Norah Jones
es:Norah Jones fr:Norah Jones id:Norah Jones ja:ノラ・ジョーンズ nl:Norah Jones pl:Norah Jones pt:Norah Jones sv:Norah Jones zh:诺拉·琼斯
Categories: 1979 births | American female singers | American country singers | American jazz pianists | American jazz singers | Celebrities who have appeared on Sesame Street | Dallasites | Eurasians | Indian Americans | Indian women | Living people | People from New York City | Multiracial Americans | New York musicians