By Yaffa Phillips, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
American singer, songwriter, and pianist • Born 1979 • Jazz, Pop, Folk, Country
Fast Facts
- Born in New York, New York
- Birth name: Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
- Daughter of an American concert producer and Indian sitar virtuoso
- Family includes prominent musicians Ravi Shankar, father, and half-sister Anoushka Shankar
- Grew up with her mother in Texas and was inspired by her mother’s diverse record collection
- At age five began singing in church choir
- In high school won three Student Music Awards from the jazz magazine, DownBeat.
- Influenced by singers Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday
- Left college and moved to Manhattan to be a part of the jazz club scene
- Some music critics downplayed her early fame as hype and criticized her musical style
- Her debut album went on to earn five Grammy Awards and sold more than twenty million copies
- An active supporter of a number of charities, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Stand Up To Cancer, and United for Peace and Justice
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