Norah Jones

Norah Jones (born March 30, 1979, New York, New York, U.S.) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to international stardom with her debut album Come Away with Me (2002), a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music.

Jones, the daughter of American concert producer Sue Jones and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, lived with her mother and grew up in a suburb of Dallas, where her mother’s vast collection of music was an early inspiration for her own eclectic taste. She first achieved national recognition by winning three Student Music Awards (for vocals and composition) from the jazz magazine Down Beat while attending a high school for the arts in Dallas. After studying jazz piano at North Texas State University for two years, Jones dropped out and moved to Manhattan in 1999. There she sang and played in the underground music scene, meeting and collaborating with the musicians who would serve as her original backing band. In 2001 she signed a recording contract with Blue Note Records.

Jones debuted in 2002 with Come Away with Me, a mellow, acoustic pop album featuring several recognized jazz musicians. A critical and commercial success, the album eventually sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, and it earned six Grammy Awards, including album of the year and both record of the year and song of the year (“Don’t Know Why”). In addition, Jones was named artist of the year. Later in 2003, in the midst of extensive touring and television appearances, Jones issued a concert DVD, Live in New Orleans.

Britannica Quiz

Pop Culture Quiz

Between working on her first and second albums, Jones formed the side project Little Willies, a band of five friends who shared a taste for classic American music such as that of Willie Nelson and Hank Williams. Little Willies—comprising Jones, Lee Alexander, Richard Julian, Dan Rieser, and Jim Campilongo—performed mostly cover songs. An eponymous album appeared in 2006, and For the Good Times followed in 2012.

In 2004 Jones released her second album, Feels like Home. It debuted at number one on the Billboard album chart and sold more than one million copies within the first week of its release. Like its predecessor, Feels like Home featured Jones’s quiet, smoky voice set against intimate, jazz-inspired acoustics. After little promotional touring and few public appearances, Jones released her third album, Not Too Late, in 2007. The album, recorded in her home studio, was the first for which Jones was involved in the writing process of every song. As well, it was the first on which she played guitar in addition to piano. In 2007 Jones also made her acting debut, starring in Wong Kar-Wai’s My Blueberry Nights; the movie premiered at the Cannes film festival.

The Fall (2009), much of which dwelled on a failed romantic relationship, found Jones expanding her musical palette with moody electric instrumentation that hinted at rock and soul. She experimented further on another breakup album, the darkly textured Little Broken Hearts (2012), which she wrote and recorded with pop producer Danger Mouse (byname of Brian Burton). She returned to the jazz-inflected sound of her debut album for Day Breaks (2016). Her later recordings included the EP Begin Again (2019) and her seventh studio album, Pick Me Up Off the Floor (2020).

Throughout her career Jones frequently provided vocals for recordings by other musicians. She won a pair of Grammy Awards for “Here We Go Again,” a duet with Ray Charles that appeared on his final studio album, Genius Loves Company (2004). The release ...Featuring Norah Jones (2010) was a collection of that and other such collaborations. She and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day recorded a duet album, Foreverly (2013), covering songs from a 1958 Everly Brothers release.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe