Awing audiences with her singing ability and piano playing talent,
Norah Jones has stormed onto the neo jazz scene while still managing to retain her laudable low-key, cool persona. Born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar in Brooklyn, New York, on March 30, 1979, she changed her name officially to Norah Jones at the age of 16. The daughter of the legendary sitar player
Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones, she spent her childhood with her mother, who moved to the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine,
Texas, when Jones was four. After majoring in jazz piano at college, Jones made her way
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back to New York, where she began performing in various clubs. In January 2001, Jones played a three-song demo tape to Blue Notes Records’ Bruce Lundvall hoping to earn a break. Lundvall was so impressed with this young girl's talents that he signed her on the spot. After little more than a year of work, Norah Jones released her debut album, Come Away With Me. The album went on to sell 2.6 million copies and led Jones to a sweep of the Grammy Awards in 2003, where picked up five trophies in the major categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "
Don't Know Why", Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Don't Know Why," and Best Pop Vocal Album.
Jones’ second album, Feels Like Home, was released in February 2004. 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. Jones toured globally to promote the album and Time magazine included Jones on the Time 100, a list of the most influential people of 2004. "
Feels Like Home" has sold over 14 million copies and contains such signature Norah Jones songs as “
Sunrise” and “What I Am to You.” The artist won her eighth Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Sunrise.” Jones’ third album, Not Too Late, reached the #1 position in twenty countries. All of its songs were written or co-written by Jones herself, who clearly represents the arrival of a new kind of singer: multi-talented, soulful, dedicated, and sincere. When she says "I'm doing it for the music." we have to believe her.