She attended the same arts-oriented high school in Dallas, Texas that soul singer Erykah Badu did: Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Jones considers herself a fan of "old music." She cites Bill Evans, Billie Holliday, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles as examples. That type of music, she says, "is just so badass and original."
In the early '00s when she had her greatest success, she played with the trio of guitarist Adam Levy, bassist Lee Alexander, and drummer Andy Borger. She and Alexander dated for about seven years.
She made her mark with her voice and a piano, but she began her musical career in junior high with the alto saxophone.
Jones briefly attended the music program at the University of North Texas before moving to New York City after two years there.
On the night of her 21st birthday, Jones was heard by music-industry accountant Shell White, who got her demo to the President of Blue Note Records, the famous jazz record label. Soon, she was signed.
She is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, a famous Indian musician known for teaching George Harrison how to play the sitar. He is 59 years older than Norah, and was estranged from her most of her life. She saw him infrequently most of her life and reconnected in the years before his 2012 death. She often downplayed their relationship, as she didn't like to be thought of as "Ravi Shankar's daughter." Jones' mother is a New York concert promoter named Sue Jones.
She swears like a sailor. Her cuss phrase of choice is "suck my ass," which she knows in Dutch and German.
On her first album, there are guest appearances by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and session drummer Brian Blade.
At the Grammys in 2003, Norah Jones won all five awards she was nominated for. Her acceptance speeches were not all smooth. At one point, she banged the award into the microphone, and while accepting the Best New Artist Grammy, she accidentally said "s--t."
She formed a country side project with Lee Alexander called "The Little Willies," a tribute (kind of) to Willie Nelson. They played several cover tunes and some originals, and released an album in 2006. One of their most humorous lyrics is from the song "Lou Reed": "You may think I'm trippin' but I swear I saw Lou Reed cowtippin'."
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Lee - Mobile, AL
She has played with the funk-fusion group Wax Poetic, and was a member of Laszlo in North Texas.
Jones became a mother in 2014 and had another child two years later. Intensely personal when it comes to family matters, she didn't reveal the name of her husband, whom she describes as a musician.
Asked by Mojo magazine what first turned her on to jazz, Norah Jones replied: "My mum took me to a big band concert at the University of North Texas when I was in 7th grade. The musicians were all college students, but I was floored. And it's funny - I'm not really into big band music. I don't record like that; it overwhelms my voice. But the night was cool, the music was cool, and I got my bug. I started to play saxophone."
Her first car, an enormous 1971 Cadillac DeVille, played an important role in her life. In high school, Jones worked at a Dallas restaurant called La Madeleine; he mom bought her the car so she could drive there safely - in any accident, the DeVille was likely to prevail. When a group from New York City came to Texas to give a clinic, Jones let her friend use the car, which was big enough to fit the band and their gear, to transport them. Part of this New York crew was Jesse Harris, who encouraged her to move to the City and pursue music. Harris became a key collaborator, writing her first hit, "
Don't Know Why."
Norah Jones' first job was behind the counter at a French bakery in Dallas. "I wore a jaunty French chef's hat,"
she recalled to The Guardian. "Every night I brought home all the spare food, and Mum and I ate everything. I've struggled to look at croissants ever since."
