Jewel - Biography

Last Editor: bassein30				Jewel Biography -   Name : Jewel Profession : Singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, poet Date of birth : May 23, 1974 Place of birth : Payson, Utah Birth Name : Jewel Kilcher Voice type(s) : Lyric Soprano Genre(s) : pop rock, folk, adult contemporary, country Years active : 1995–present Label(s) : Atlantic, Valory

Jewel Trivia -

Her father taught music in elementary schools. Dating champion rodeo cowboy Ty Murray. [October 1999] Dated Christopher Douglas. [1999] Friends with actor/activist Sean Penn, who directed an early version of a music video for "You Were Meant For Me." in 1995. A later version was made in 1997 and that is the version we know today. On behalf of the Everyday Angels, The International Star Registry redesignated the star number Ursa Minor 15h38m42s 75°58'37'' to the name Jewel Kilcher (Jewel of the North). [23 May 1997] Her grandfather helped draft the Alaska state constitution. Singer. She learned to play guitar at age 16. Is able to speak some Swedish. When she was 18, she had a Swedish boyfriend, named Musse, from whom she learned it. She also wrote him a lullaby song in Swedish, which she has performed at concerts and on TV appearances. Broke collarbone and rib when thrown from a colt at the Stephenville, Texas, ranch of her rodeo-star boyfriend star Ty Murray, April 24, 2002. Murray is 7-time winner of rodeo's all-around world title. Attended the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Academy, an exclusive boarding school, in Interlochen, Michigan. She had to cancel several dates on an upcoming tour following the death of her bassist, Terome T-Bone Hannon. (September 12, 2003) She is one of the many artists and songwriters asked to join Music United For A Strong Internet Copyright (MUSIC), but she is still undecided as to whether the all-star ad campaign is an effective means of putting a stop to illegal downloading. (October 3, 2002) Dated musician Steve Poltz for 3 years. They co-wrote Jewel's 1997 hit 'You Were Meant For Me.' Ranked #92 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World" (2002) Her cousins are actress/singer Q'orianka Kilcher and actor Kainoa Kilcher. Father's name is Atz and mother's Lenedra Carroll. Her father is of German origin and her mother is American. Lived in a VW bus in San Diego with her mother before making it big. Ranked #45 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists. Sister-in-law of Kim Murray. Daughter-in-law of Butch Murray and Joy Murray.

Jewel Detailed Biography -

Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974 in Payson, Utah) is a singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and author, better known by her first name, Jewel. Jewel was born in Payson, Utah into a family of Swiss-German descent, but spent most of her young life growing up in Homer, Alaska, living with her father. The home in which she grew up did not have indoor plumbing, but a simple outhouse instead. She and her father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences she learned to yodel, a quality demonstrated in many of her songs. Her father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before she turned eight. During high school, Jewel was known to spell her name "Jule," but she attributes this to simply playing with her name, as teenagers are prone to do. Jewel learned to play the guitar while on scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in operatic voice. She started writing songs at the age of seventeen. For a time, she was poverty-stricken and lived in her van while traveling about the country. She gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. Her friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns played the same venues. Jewel later collaborated with Poltz on some of her songs including "You Were Meant For Me". He appeared in Jewel's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar. It was at these coffeehouse appearances that she was discovered by Atlantic Records. She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995. Some of the songs on the album were recorded at the coffeehouse. The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak popularity. The album spawned the Top 10 hits "You Were Meant for Me", "Who Will Save Your Soul?" and "Foolish Games". The album was a huge success and eventually sold over 12 million copies in the US alone. The original version of "Who Will Save Your Soul" was removed from the final version of the album when she went back into the studio and reworked the single for the radio. Instead of just a guitar and her voice, other instruments were added and more pop sound was created, a verse was cut, and the radio version of the single was produced. Jewel is noted for her songs' qualities of stark honesty and soulful introspection. Her songs resist categorization, but, because of their mostly guitar accompaniment, have sometimes been categorized as folk music or the hybrid class folk-pop. However, her music is mostly recognized as popular music and enjoys wide exposure on a variety of music radio stations. Due to her success, she was chosen to sing the national anthem at the opening of the Super Bowl in January 1998. In November 1998, Jewel released her second album, Spirit. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies in the US. The songs "Hands" and "Down So Long" hit the Top 10. Other singles followed, a new version of "Jupiter (Swallow The Moon), "What's Simple Is True", the theme song to her upcoming movie, and the charity single "Life Uncommon". A year later, In November 1999, Jewel released her holiday album, Joy-A Holiday Collection. The album sold over a million copies and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. She released a cover of "Joy to the World" from the album. In November 2001, the album This Way was released. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the US, standing as her most critically acclaimed album to date. Jewel hit the Top 10 with the song "Standing Still" and the Top 40 with the song "Break Me". Other singles released were "Serve The Ego", a club single only, "Serve The Ego" gave Jewel her first number one club hit and a new version of the song "This Way". Although noted for original songs, Jewel has been known to cover a variety of famous tunes. Of note the acoustic version of the classic Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order. In 2003 Jewel underwent a drastic image change with the release of her album 0304. She writes in her liner notes, "I wanted to make a record that was a modern interpretation of big band music. A record that was lyric driven, like Cole Porter stuff, that also had a lot of swing. And a lot of it is thanks to Lester, because when I told him I wanted to make a record that combined dance, urban and folk music, he didn't look at me like I was crazy." While some fans considered 0304 an innovative album that held to the tradition of her previous albums, others felt that Jewel's new direction brought with it an unwelcome change to her folky sound and folksy, unassuming persona . Her video for the debut single Intuition had her cavorting in full dance numbers, often scantily clad in bras and bikinis. The song and video were an ironic social commentary on the state of music, but it left many fans wondering if Jewel had in fact become what she was satirizing, especially considering the fact the song was licensed by Schick to promote their new Intuition woman's razor. "Intuition" hit the Top 20, and the album 0304 debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, giving Jewel her highest chart dating ever. A follow-up single, "Stand," was released, but did not help the album in the USA, where it sold just 900,000 units, making it her lowest-selling album. "0304" gave Jewel her highest selling album in Australia, despite its lukewarm reception elsewhere. In late 2005, Jewel announced her 6th album, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland was finished, and was to be released May 2, 2006, produced by Green Day producer, Rob Cavallo. The first single, "Again and Again", will be released to radio stations in late February. A special video to the title track appeared on Jewel's official fanclub page on 25th January, and was made available to the general public 5 days later. Jewel appeared in the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride with the Devil Jewel Kilcher formed a non-profit organization called Higher Ground For Humanity with her mother Lenedra J. Carroll and her older brother Shane Kilcher. The organization's main focus became access to clean water in developing countries after The Clearwater Project was launched in 1999. The organization's focus is education, sustainable improvements, and building alliances with like minded organizations. The Clearwater Project has taken on projects in South America, Central America, India, and Africa, building wells and water filtration systems. One such project was the reactivation of construction of a well through the use of a solar powered pump for the benefit of the Maasai people in the Sukenia region of Tanzania, Africa. Before Clearwater's involvement villagers were walking as much as 10 hours a day to fetch clean water. Other projects have taken place in Malakkara, India; Gualcea, Honduras; Sisoguichi, Mexico; and Bangladesh. Jewel donates a portion of her income to the organization and often holds events to benefit the organization. The organization tends to parallel the career of Jewel since she provides the majority of the organization's funding. As of 2005, the activities of the organization were reduced. Jewel has publicly supported The ONE Campaign, to eradicate third world poverty.