Norah Jones Biography 
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the daughter of Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones. Her birth name is Geetali Norah Jones Shankar. Anoushka Shankar is her half-sister and Shubhendra Shankar was her half-brother (son of Ravi Shankar and his first wife, noted vocalist Annapurna Devi, daughter of Allauddin Khan).
She was born in March 30, 1979 at Brooklyn, New York. After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in Grapevine, Texas where she did her schooling. She was a part of a school band and played the alto saxophone while at school. She was attracted to the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday since younger days. She sang at church and played piano at a younger age. Later she studied at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. At the age of sixteen, she officially changed her name to Norah Jones. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition.
Jones attended the University of North Texas to earn a degree in jazz piano. In 1999 she moved to New York. Within a year she started a band with Jesse Harris whom she had met while at North Texas. It was the most noted period of her music journey. She signed Blue Note Records, a label owned by EMI Group. She was first teamed up with Jay Newland and her sampler album - First Sessions was released in 2001. In February 2002, Jones's debut album, Come Away with Me was released. The single "Don't Know Why" hit No. 1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents. In 2003 she won five Grammy Awards - Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album for the album, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why". The album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2002 and diamond album in 2005 and still remains Blue Note's biggest-selling album.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 01, 2014
