Norah Jones, The #59 Female Artist of the Rock Era*

Norah Jones was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Ravi Shankar, who famously opened the Woodstock Festival in 1969.  Jones spent her childhood in Grapevine, Texas, attending Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.  She sang in the choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone.

Jones attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers.  While in high school, Norah won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist in 1996 and 1997 and Best Original Composition in 1996. 

Jones majored in jazz piano at the University of North Texas and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers.  Norah met Jesse Harris, who began giving her sheets of his songs.  In 1999, Jones left for New York City, and within a year, she started a band with Harris.  

Jones sang backing vocals for Victoria Williams at Blue Note Records.  A three-track demo of Jones was passed on to label president Bruce Lundvall and A&R man Brian Bacchus.  Although Blue Note was a jazz label, and the pair were unsure what direction Norah's music would take, they signed her to a recording contract.    

In 2002, Jones released her debut album, Come Away with Me.  Her first single, "Don't Know Why", hit #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #30 on the so-called "Hot 100" chart in the United States, #4 in Japan and #5 in Australia.

Norah won four other Grammys for her debut work:  Album of the Year (no one does that with their first album), Best Pop Vocal Album of the Year, Best New Artist.  That tied Norah with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys for the most Grammy wins in one year for a female artist (Beyoncé and Adele have since broken that record.)  Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for writing "Don't Know Why", her producer, Arif Mardin, won Producer of the Year, and the album also won the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

Come Away with Me was also nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Jones was nominated for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the American Music Awards.

"Feelin' The Same Way" was not released as a single in the U.S., but it received significant airplay in Europe, and reflects the tremendous maturity of a singer just starting out.

Come Away with Me has now sold over 26 million copies worldwide.  The album's title song was a #2 hit in Canada and #5 in Spain.  Norah captured the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

"Turn Me On" was featured in the great Hugh Grant movie Love Actually, and hit #10 in Canada.

We'll feature six songs from this amazing debut.  This is "Nightingale".

Jones won two World Music Awards in 2003--Best Selling Female Pop Artist of the Year and Best Selling Contemporary Artist of the Year.  Another great track on this sensational album is "The Nearness Of You".

After the unbelievable debut, Jones released the album Feels Like Home in 2004.  The album debuted at #1 in 16 countries around the world.  Within a week, the album had sold over a million copies.  It is now up to 4 million copies in the U.S. and 12 million worldwide.  Jones toured throughout the world to promote the album.  "Sunrise" peaked at #26 AC and was #1 in Japan.  Norah earned the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Feels Like Home earned Jones a second consecutive American Music Award nomination for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.  Billboard nominated her for Female Artist of the Year.   And, two more World Music Awards came her way--Best Selling Female Artist of the Year and Best Selling Jazz Artist of the Year.   "Don't Miss You At All" is another outstanding song on the album.

Time magazine ranked Jones on the Time 100 in its list of the most influential people in 2004.  Jones was nominated for Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Dolly Parton--"Creepin' (sic) In".  

Jones won two more Grammys for her collaboration with Ray Charles on the song "Here We Go Again", which won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.  Charles' album Genius Loves Company won the Grammy for Album of the Year:

In 2006, Jones recorded "Virginia Moon" with the Foo Fighters, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In 2007, Jones release Not Too Late, the first album for which she wrote or co-wrote every song.  Not Too Late reached #1 in 20 countries, and it has now gone over 4 million in worldwide sales.  The same year, Jones sang "American Anthem" for the Ken Burns documentary The War.

Jones was nominated for two more American Music Awards:  Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist and Favorite Artist of the Year.   "Sinkin' Soon" is another song featured on the album.

By 2007, Jones had sold over 36 million albums worldwide.  She made her acting debut in 2007 in the movie My Blueberry Nights. 

In 2009, Jones released the album The Fall.  It debuted at #3 and sold 180,000 copies its first week.  The single "Chasing Pirates" reached #13 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The Fall has now sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.  Norah's duet with Willie Nelson, "Baby, Its Cold Outside", was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

At the end of the decade, Billboard ranked Jones as the top jazz recording artist, and Come Away With Me was the #4 album of the decade.  Norah began her fourth tour in 2010. 

Jones released the album Little Broken Hearts in 2012.  American Songwriter called the album "the most dramatic and rewarding departure she's made in her career."  Norah toured Europe, North America, Asia, South America and Australia in support of the album.

She's recorded barely a decade now, but her impact has been phenomenal, with 17 million albums sold in the United States and nearing 40 million worldwide.