Norah Jones

Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar, 30.3.1979)

Norah Jones is an American singer, musician and songwriter. She rose to fame with the release of her debut album Come Away With Me.

Norah Jones: Childhood

Norah Jones was born in New York, to Ravi Shankar - a sitar player famous for having worked with The Beatles) - and Sue Jones, a concert producer. As a child, she moved with her mother to Grapevine, Texas and attended Grapevine High School.

Jones later transferred to the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, in Dallas. She changed her name to Norah Jones at the age of 16.

After embarking on a course at the University of North Texas, Jones left after two years and moved to New York, starting a band with Jesse Harris, whom she had met whilst in Texas.

When she started out, Norah was heavily influenced by Billie Holiday, Bill Evans and Willie Nelson.

Norah Jones: Music Career

Norah Jones released a five song EP in 2001, after signing a deal with Blue Note Records, a subsidiary of EMI. The EP was entitled 'This Is My Time Advance'. Her debut album, Come Away With Me, was released in February 2002. The lead single was 'Don't Know Why'.

Come Away With Me won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards and has been certified as having 'diamond' selling status in 2005.

The second album from Norah Jones was entitled Feels Like Home and was more influenced by country music than her debut. Feels Like Home went straight to number one in 16 different countries.

Not Too Late was the third album from Norah Jones and was released in January 2007. It was the first album on which Norah Jones either wrote or co-wrote every song on the album. Her previous producer, Arif Mardin, had passed away in 2006, so Not Too Late was produced instead by Lee Alexander, her bass player and former partner. This time, the album reached number one in 20 countries, achieving the third best first weeks sales, after Avril Lavigne and Linkin Park and eventually sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The fourth album from Norah Jones, The Fall, had a more contemporary rock feel than her previous albums and features collaborations from Ryan Adams and Will Sheff of Okkervil River. The debut single, 'Chasing Pirates', was released in October 2009.

Norah Jones has previously collaborated with Mike Patton's band Peeping Tom, providing vocals for the track 'Sucker'. She also appeared on OutKast's Grammy award-winning album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Jones sand Joni Mitchell's 'Court and Spark' on Herbie Hancock's River: the Joni Letters album.

Norah Jones: Film Appearances

In 2002, Norah Jones had a cameo role in the movie Two Weeks Notice, starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock.

In 2007, the film Blueberry Nights opened that year's Cannes Film Festival. Norah Jones made her major acting debut in the film, alongside Jude Law and Rachel Weisz.

In 2009, Jones had a cameo role in Wah Do Dem, a small budget independent film.