Norah Jones (born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar on
March 30,
1979; she changed her name officially to Norah Jones at age 16) is a multi-
Grammy Award winning
pianist and
singer-songwriter whose career was launched with her successful
2002 debut album
Come Away With Me, a
jazz piano album with a
soul/
folk tinge, that sold 18 million copies worldwide and received 8 Grammy awards.
Jones was born in New York City, the daughter of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, but she spent her childhood with her mother, Sue Jones, who moved to Dallas, Texas, when Norah was four. Jones attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano. In 1999, two years into the program, Norah left for New York City, where she performed with the band Wax Poetic.
Jones performs frequently with guitarist Charlie Hunter. Her music is often compared to that of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.
Norah Jones walked away from the Grammy Awards of 2003 with 8 awards, including Best New Artist. Her sophomore album, Feels Like Home, was released on February 9, 2004. Rather than repeat the softer mood of Come Away With Me, her second album was more influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, Feels Like Home had sold over a million copies. In that same year, TIME magazine listed Jones among the Most Influential People of 2004. Jones received 3 awards at the Grammy Awards of 2005, two for her Record of the Year collaboration with Ray Charles on the song Here We Go Again.
Discography
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