A Biography Of Norah Jones

Famous jazz, pop, folk and soul singer Norah Jones was born in 1979. Her original name was Geetali Norah Jones Shankar. She has an Indian origin; her father is Ravi Shankar - a famous Indian sitarist. Geetali changed her name to Norah Jones officially when she turned sixteen. Her successful career has been launched quite recently after the release of her debut album "Come Away With Me" in 2002. This album was a real hit and sold more than twenty million copies worldwide.

Norah Jones received eight Grammy awards for "Come Away With Me". Since her childhood she has enjoyed the music of Billie Holiday and Bill Evans. It was very intriguing and relieving for Norah to listen to their music. Jones entered the University of North Texas attending Booker T. Washington High School of Visual Arts at the same time. Her specialty was jazz piano there and in various contests she had winning places. Thus in 1996 and 1997 Norah Jones received awards as the best jazz vocalist and best original composition.

In 1999, Norah decided to move to New-York where she joined the band Wax Poetic. Her duet with famous guitarist Charlie Hunter in 2001 is often compared to that of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday. In 2002, Norah Jones released her debut album "Come Away With Me" featuring a mixture of soul, country and acoustic pop. It enjoyed number one on Billboard charts particularly owing to single "Don't Know Why". In 2003, Norah received numerous Grammy Awards such as Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Overall she received five awards personally and three awards for her album.

Jones' second album "Feels Like Home" was released in 2004. Norah's inclination to country music is getting more obvious in this album. "Feels Like Home" sold over one million copies worldwide making it the highest-selling album in the history of Norah's label Blue Note Records. In that year Norah Jones was titled one of the most influential people by Time magazine. Norah Jones received three awards at the Grammy Awards in 2005, two for her Record of the Year collaboration with Ray Charles on the song "Here We Go Again". In 2005, Norah Jones appeared on the self-titled record by Amos Lee.