Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974 in Payson, Utah) is a singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and author, better known by her first name, Jewel.
Early years
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.
Vocal Profile
Career
Music
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 1994. 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 the #1 hit "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 [1].
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. [2]. 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.
Writing
Jewel published a book of poetry titled "A Night Without Armor" in 1998 and an autobiography titled Chasing Down the Dawn in 2000. Chasing Down The Dawn was a collection of diary entries and musings detailing her life growing up in Alaska, her struggle to learn her craft and life on the road. "A Night Without Armor" sold over 1 million copies and was a New York Times Bestseller.
Philanthropy
Jewel performing in 2000 tour co-sponsored by the
USO, a nonprofit volunteer organization that tries to boost morale for U.S. troops with free entertainment
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.
Discography
Jewel on the cover of her 2003 album
0304
Singles (in chronological order)
1996:
1997:
-
"You Were Meant For Me" (Pieces of You) #2 US
-
"Foolish Games" (Pieces of You) #1 US
-
"Morning Song" (Pieces of You) [UK only]
1998:
1999:
-
"Down So Long" (Spirit) #59 US
-
"Jupiter (Swallow the Moon)" (Spirit)
-
"What's Simple Is True" (Spirit)
-
"Life Uncommon (Live)" NOT AN OFFICIAL SINGLE RELEASE
2001:
2002:
2003:
2006:
Original Soundtrack Contributions
Videos
Videos have been shot for the following songs:
-
Standing Still
-
Break Me
-
This Way [Unreleased]
Books
More about Jewel
External links
source : wikipedia.org and answers.com
