Born March 30, 1979, in New York City, the daughter of Ravi Shankar quietly grew up in Texas with her mother. While she always found the music of Billie Holiday and Bill Evans both intriguing and comforting, she didn't really explore jazz until attending Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. During high school, Jones won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition in 1996, and earned a second Best Jazz Vocalist award in 1997. Putting her vocal talents on the back burner, Jones worked toward earning a degree in jazz piano at the University of North Texas for two years before accepting a friend's offer of a summer sublet in Greenwich Village during the summer of 1999. Although she fully intended to return to college that fall, the lure of the folk coffeehouses and jazz clubs proved too strong and she soon became inspired to write her own songs. Jones appeared regularly with the trip-hop-electronica band Wax Poetic and assembled her own group around songwriters Jesse Harris (guitar) and Lee Alexander (bass), with Dan Rieser on drums.

In October of 2000, the group recorded a handful of demos for Blue Note Records and on the strength of these recordings, Jones signed to the jazz label in early 2001. Following an appearance on Charlie Hunter's Songs From the Analog Playground, Jones spent much of 2001 performing live with Hunter's group and working on material for her debut. Come Away With Me, recorded by Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Manhattan Transfer, k.d. lang) and legendary producer Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, the Bee Gees), was released in early 2002 and garnered much public attention. The combination of her striking beauty and the fact that she was the daughter of an internationally renowned musician placed Jones in the awkward position of defending her music from those who dismissed her as another pretty face (the same argument used by those opposed to Diana Krall) and/or another riding the coattails of her musical royal heritage (see Natalie Cole, Miki Coltrane, Corey Parker). Although not by any stretch a ""jazz"" album (the label chose to call it ""jazz-informed""), it featured jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and session drummer Brian Blade, and indicated a new direction for Blue Note combining jazz aesthetics and talent with a pop sensibility. Come Away With Me eventually went multi-platinum, selling 18 million copies worldwide and winning Jones eight Grammy awards.

Wurlitzer Prize (I don't wanna get over you)

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WWMM Michael	1/22/2017 8:33:22 PM Hi Norah! I just learned about indiemusicpeople this week and have added a station called "Groovy and 60's Style." I learned from the broadcaster Scott that you have a presence here and I am really excited about that! Within the past few years I have acquired most of your albums and am about to buy your new one as well. I also love your work with the Little Willies, and I adore what you did with Hank William's "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?" I have kept your performances on Palladia's VHI Storytellers and on Later...with Jools Holland on my DVR and have watched them and shared them with friends many times! I heard you are coming to my town, Omaha, NE and want to see if you offer a meet-and-greet as well! The MonaLisa Twins, independent artists, drew me to this site. Please Google them if you get a chance. They are lovely and talented young ladies. Maybe you could reach out to them and offer a word of encouragement and they would love that! Love you Norah! Mike Triba from Omaha, NE.
Carl Schonbeck	2/16/2008 6:34:30 AM Welcome to IAC Nora (I'm sure you'll getting a LOT of greetings :-)!!!! My day isn't complete without hearing you sing (particularly you & Charlie Hunter's version of "More Than This"). Hope life's treating you good and thanks for the great music.
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