Norah Jones rose to stardom nearly two decades ago with her debut album Come Away With Me, which went platinum. Since then, she has released multiple albums.
She has expanded her creative range through collaborations with Foo Fighters and Willie Nelson; Visions is no exception.
She grew up in Grapevine, Texas
Norah Jones was born Geethali Norah Shankar in Manhattan but her parents divorced before she could come out of the womb. Raised by her mother Sue Jones in Grapevine, Texas – where her musical repertoire included Etta James, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin; in addition to piano and voice lessons.
Jones attended Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, singing in their school choir and playing saxophone. Upon graduating high school with honors, she studied jazz at University of North Texas – winning two Down Beat Student Music Awards while co-founding a band with Jesse Harris.
Come Away With Me became an instantaneous success upon its release in 2002, selling over 4 million copies and becoming the best-selling jazz album of the 2000s. It drew praise both from critics and the general public alike.
She moved to New York City in 1999
Norah Jones arrived in New York City during the summer of 1999 and quickly found work as a lounge singer, singing jazz standards in a band called Wax Poetic and performing jazz standards from her repertoire. Peter Malick, director of The Thin Red Line film series heard her perform and decided to approach her for a recording project.
Norah released Come Away With Me as her debut album for Blue Note Records in February 2002 and it quickly became a worldwide phenomenon selling over seven million copies worldwide. Her subsequent releases such as Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009) and Little Broken Hearts (2012) broadened Norah’s musical scope even further with rock, country, folk and even pop influences being explored within these albums.
Day Breaks, her sixth album, showed that her jazz roots remain strong; it recalls Come Away With Me but displays an artist who has lived life and grown considerably as an artist.
She started The Little Willies in 2003
Norah Jones found her voice when singing with the choir of her local church. Soon thereafter, she took piano and voice lessons as well as jazz piano classes; eventually pursuing jazz music through coffeehouse performances on open-mic nights as her passion. Recognized by jazz magazine Down Beat as an outstanding vocalist both years running, Norah won two Student Music Awards from them both – winning an Award from Down Beat’s Student Music Award both years.
Norah quickly found herself at home in New York City when she joined a collective of talented friends to form The Little Willies band. Composed of Norah on piano keyboards and vocals; Richard Julian on guitar; Jim Campilongo on guitar; Lee Alexander on bass; and Dan Rieser on drums, The Little Willies quickly found its stride performing classic country hits together.
Little Willies recreated some of their favorite songs, such as Jolene by Dolly Parton. Their rendition is slower and more haunting but still retains the feel of its predecessor; now one of Jones’s signature tracks.
She became a Blue Note artist in 2002
Norah Jones began her Blue Note career upon moving to New York City in 2002, finding a niche within the jazz scene and singing with local groups such as funk fusion group Wax Poetic as well as guitarist Charlie Hunter.
Her debut album Come Away With Me was an enormously successful release. Produced by Arif Mardin – who had worked with artists such as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin – its success propelled Norah into stardom.
On her next two albums, she took on more of an active creative role when it came to songwriting; on Feels Like Home she wrote or co-wrote six out of thirteen tracks herself or co-wrote them with Danger Mouse at his Los Angeles studio and was responsible for its instrumentals as well. While critical response for Little Broken Hearts varied greatly from its commercial success, both releases received positive reviews overall.