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NORAH JONES BIOGRAPHY |
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Norah Jones was born March 30, 1979 in New York City. When she
was four years old, Norah and her mother Sue moved to the Dallas
suburb of Grapevine, Texas. Norah's earliest musical influences
came from her mother's extensive LP collection and from 'oldies'
radio. She began singing in church choirs at age five, commenced
piano lessons two years later, and briefly played alto saxophone
in junior high. When Norah was 15, she and her mother moved from
Grapevine to Dallas' central city, where she enrolled in Booker
T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Norah played her first gig on her 16th birthday, an open-mic
night at a local coffeehouse, where she performed a version of
I'll Be Seeing You that she'd learned from Etta James' treatment
of this Billie Holiday favorite. While in high school, Norah won
the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and
Best Original Composition in 1996, and earned a second SMA for
Best Jazz Vocalist in 1997. After graduation, she entered the
University of North Texas, renowned for its music programs,
where she majored in jazz piano. She also sang with a band
called Laszlo, playing what she describes as "dark, jazzy rock."
In the summer of 1999, Norah accepted a friend's offer of a
summer sublet in Greenwich Village. She came to Manhattan and
never returned to North Texas State. For about a year beginning
in December 1999, Norah appeared regularly with the funk-fusion
band Wax Poetic.
But she soon assembled her own group with Jesse Harris, Lee
Alexander, and Dan Rieser. In October 2000, this lineup recorded
a selection of demos for Blue Note Records. On the strength of
these recordings and a live showcase, Jones was signed to Blue
Note in January 2001. Norah sang two songs (Roxy Music's More
Than This and Day Is Done by Nick Drake) on guitarist Charlie
Hunter's Blue Note album Songs from the Analog Playground, and
has frequently performed live with Hunter's group. Norah began
recording the songs of Come Away With Me in May 2001, doing
preliminary work with producer Craig Street at Bearsville Studio
in Woodstock, New York. Come Away With Me, produced by soul
veteran Arif Mardin, was released to strong critical acclaim in
February 2002. Despite featuring support from respected
musicians Bill Frisell and Brian Blade, the album was more
notable for its pop, country and soul leanings and only briefly
strayed into smooth jazz territory. Perplexingly, the album was
lodged at the top of the Billboard contemporary jazz album chart
for over one consecutive year, from March 2002 to June 2003.
After 46 weeks on the mainstream chart, Come Away With Me
climbed to the number 1 position in January 2003. |
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