Birth Name:Geetali Norah Jones Shankar
Height:5' 1" (1.55 m)
Mini Biography:
She was born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar to legendary Indian musician, Ravi Shankar, and Sue Jones in New York City. Fittingly, her birth name, Geetali, carries the meaning of "song" or "melodious", and was bestowed on her by her father. No one could have possibly imagined how fully she would embody that name, even while circumstances removed her from the influences of her father's musical gifts.
Norah Jones was raised by her mother in a Dallas suburb, and that's where her musical talents began to reveal themselves. She performed in church choirs, learned to play the piano and guitar, and even briefly tried her hand at the alto saxophone. She attended Interlochen Arts Camp, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas, and the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano, and won Best Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996). At the age of sixteen, she officially shortened her name to Norah Jones, no longer carrying the Indian, "Geetali". Nonetheless, the "melodious song" was very much alive, and moving full-steam ahead.
Captivated by New York's musical energy, Jones moved back to her city of birth in 1999 to embark on the life course that would lead to her great success. Jones began playing with numerous artists and bands, including Wax Poetic and the Peter Malick Group, but it was by her collaboration with a group of her remarkably talented friends - Lee Alexander, Jesse Harris, Adam Levy, Richard Julian, Daru Oda, Andrew Borger and others - that she would take the world by storm and carve her name into music history. Performing with her new band, Jones burst upon the pop music scene with her auspicious debut album, Come Away With Me, released by Blue Note Records in 2002. The album of original compositions - having sold almost 10 million copies in the U.S. and over 20 million worldwide - swept the Grammy Awards in 2003 and established her as the 'genuine article' - destined for a brilliant career.
Two years later Jones followed up with Feels Like Home, another engaging and heartfelt album that, like her first, was the perfect blend of originals by Norah and other members of the band. Feels Like Home debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, eventually selling over 4 million units in the U.S. and over 10 million worldwide.
Her third album, Not Too Late, was released in January, 2007 to both critical and public acclaim. A double-platinum seller, it has helped secure Jones' position as one of the best-selling female recording artists of the decade.
Further fleshing out her creative resumé, Jones starred in acclaimed director Kar Wai Wong's My Blueberry Nights (2007), along with Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Rachel Weisz. While the film was largely dismissed by mainstream audiences, few could deny its intriguing visual beauty and composite artistry.
On her latest recording effort, The Fall, Jones took a new direction, experimenting with different sounds, and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse among others. Jones enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as Jesse Harris, with whom she'd won a Grammy for "Don't Know Why" in 2003. King also helped Jones gather an entirely new group of musicians to perform on the album, together achieving a sound that broadened her already diverse repertoire, while enhancing her professional image.
Creatively energetic, uniquely talented, and exquisitely beautiful - Norah Jones has brought great honor to her family's musical legacy, all the while, evolving into an artist of classic rendition; one who worthily stands among the most adored entertainers of our time.
[Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1289528/bio]
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