Won 7 Grammys: Who is Norah Jones?

The whole world recognized her at the 45th Grammy Awards ceremony held on February 23, 2003. It came as a surprise to everyone when a modest jazz singer won eight Grammys, including Album of the Year.

However, considering the album sales, the situation should not have been that surprising. Because Jones' album "Come Away With Me", released in early 2002 and produced by Arif Mardin, has sold 6 million copies to date.

After the Grammy success, another 10 million were added to this. Anoushka Shankar, the half-sister of "smoky voice" Norah Jones, the daughter of legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, whom The Beatles introduced to the world, and concert producer Sue Jones, is also a musician. But she is following in her father's footsteps.

Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and, as of 2023, had sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.

Norah Jones has a rapidly developing career story. In a field such as vocal jazz, she became one of the brightest stars of the American music industry at the age of 23.

Jones, who was born in New York on March 30, 1979, moved to Dallas with her mother Sue Cooper, a producer, when she was 4 years old and made peace with her father much later.

Norah, who grew up listening to the songs of Billie Holliday, of whom her mother was also a fan, started singing at the age of 5. Over time, she discovered Aretha Franklin and Steve Wonder.

Found Herself in Manhattan Norah Jones started taking piano lessons when she was 15 years old.

She was enrolled in the school called 'Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts'. Names such as Erykah Badu and trumpeter Roy Hargrove had previously graduated from this school.

A year later, she gave her first concert at a local cafe. She received her first award during this period. Jones, who joined a jazz-rock band named Laszlo for a while, enrolled at the University of North Texas to study jazz piano.

Norah Jones, who went to Manhattan for a holiday in 1999, was very impressed by New York's jazz scene. So much so that she gave up returning to school and settled here.

İlhan Erşahin was one of the first people to discover Norah Jones in New York. Jones sang vocals on the tracks 'Angels' and 'Purple Elephants' on the first album of Erşahin's Wax Poetic band. She even performed with Wax Poetic for two nights at Istanbul Babylon in 1999. Jones also appeared as a vocalist on the songs "Ghost" and "Tell Me" on Wax Poetic's second album.

Deciding to chart her own path in 2000, Norah Jones formed a band with songwriter and guitarist Jesse Harris, bassist Lee Alexander, drummer Dan Rieser, and guitarist Adam Levy. Jones started negotiating with the record company Blue Note and signed a contract with this company.

"Come Away With Me", recorded in August 2001 under the production of Arif Mardin and released in February 2002, attracted great attention with its simple structure, beautiful compositions, and Jones' sweet voice. But despite everything, even Arif Mardin considered the success a "surprise".

Jones did not hide her surprise: “I never thought I could make a record like this. I thought it would take at least five years to get to the point I wanted. “The world of music is huge and exciting,” she said.

“Feels Like Home” and “Come Away With Me” won the album of the year, the pop vocal album of the year, and production of the year awards. Arif Mardin was declared the producer of the year. Jones was also named the best breakout musician of the year. She also won the Grammy for Song of the Year with the song "Don't Know Why".

After this great success, Norah Jones went on long tours. She has worked with various artists, including OutKast. During these tours, Jones and her band also wrote new songs. The second album "Feels Like Home" was created during these concerts. Jones even created the tempo of her songs based on the reactions she received. This time, Norah Jones and Arif Mardin produced the album together. The album, which was released on February 9, 2004, again by Blue Note Records, was promoted with the single named 'Sunrise'. The highly anticipated album did not disappoint Jones fans.

Discography:

* First Sessions (2001) (demo EP)

* Come Away with Me (2002)

* Feels like Home (2004)

*Not Too Late (2007)

* The Fall (2009)