Norah Jones: A Talented and Beautiful Girl

Norah Jones, a pianist and vocalist, is influenced in large part by her backgrounds and beliefs to develop her own blend of jazz and traditional vocal pop with hints of contemporary and country folk.

Norah was raised in Texas with her mother. She always considered that the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday was comforting and mysterious; nevertheless, she never explored jazz until she went to Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While Jones was there, she won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition in 1996, and then she got a second Best Jazz Vocalist award in 1997. With all these achievements, she was demonstrating a great potential and talent that has to be exploited with lots of practice. Besides, she also worked very hard to earn a degree in jazz piano at the University of North Texas for two years. Soon, she became inspired to write her own songs.

In early 2001, Jones signed to the jazz label. After making an appearance on Charlie Hunter’s Songs From the Analog Playground, Jones performed live with Hunter’s group and worked on the material for her debut album most of 2001. The release of Come Away With Me in early 2002 got a lot of public attention. The fact that she was the daughter of a famous musician and that she is beautiful do not favor her much because she has to defend her music from negative comments and critics. However, Jones’ album sold 18 million copies around the world, got multi-platinum, and won eight Grammy awards. Her new album, Feels Like Home, in 2004 was a combination of blues, country, and her own piano jazz.