Jones, Norah (1979- )

US pop vocalist and pianist. Her music combines jazz, pop, and folk to create a mellow, pleasing sound. Her debut album Come Away with Me (2002) was a huge international success, winning eight Grammy awards, including Best New Artist, Best Album, and Song of the Year for the hit single ‘Don't Know Why’.

Her second album, Feels Like Home (2004), featured more varied fare, including country influences and collaborations with a number of artists including Dolly Parton, and topped the album charts for several weeks.

She was born in New York City but moved to a suburb of Dallas, Texas, with her mother when she was four. Influenced by her mother's collection of jazz and blues, especially Billie Holiday and Bill Evans, she enrolled in Dallas's Booker T Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where she won awards for her jazz vocals. She studied piano at the University of North Texas but left after two years to pursue a performing career in New York. She appeared regularly with the funk band Wax Poetic until forming her own band, which included Jesse Harris (guitar), Lee Alexander (bass), and Dan Rieser (drums) in 1999. The band was renamed the Handsome Band for her second album.

Her father is the sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar.