Jewel Kitcher was born on May 23, 1974
in Payson, Utah and was raised on an 800 acre homestead farm in Homer, Alaska. Jewel's parents were a singer/songwriter duo that toured together around the state. Jewel started touring with her father Atz and mother Lenedra around age six, singing folk music in bars and clubs throughout Alaska.
Jewel's junior and senior years of high school were spent at Interlochen Fine Arts Academy in Michigan, funded primarily by a vocal scholarship. After high school, Jewel came to San Diego to stay with her mom.
Jewel worked a variety of jobs including waitressing. Eventually she decided that working unfulfilling dead-end jobs was definitely not the way she wanted to live. She moved into her VW van, and her and her mother began touring along the California coast, seeking places for Jewel to showcase her singing and songwriting talents. She soon started performing to sparse crowds at a coffeehouse in Pacific Beach called the Inner Change where she soon had a regular spot and an ever growing audience.
Jewel did not start writing songs until she was 17 years old. However, since she had been writing poetry since a very young age, she quickly became a prolific songwriter. It was not uncommon for Jewel to debut several new songs at each show.
These coffee house shows were a hotbed of local acoustic talent, and Jewel was regularly joined by frequent collaborator Steve Poltz (lead singer of the Rugburns). Each week the crowd continued to grow to the point that Jewel's shows were always sold out. News of the young singer/songwriter spread and it was not long before record executives from the LA area started catching her shows. They could see talent and soon she was signed to Atlantic Records.
By this time Jewel had written over a hundred songs and in mid 1994 the record company recorded Jewel playing live at the Inner Change. This live recording resulted in the live tracts on the "Pieces of You" album. To build her fan base in support of her new album, Jewel undertook a "coffee house" tour where she played four different coffee shops in four different cities for four weeks.
Jewel's first album, "Pieces of You", was released in February 1995. "Pieces Of You" climbed to the top 5 on the Billboard charts. This album included the hit singles "Who Will Save Your Soul" and the RIAA-platinum "You Were Meant For Me/Foolish Games," The album eventually received RIAA Diamond Award certification for having sold over 10 million copies. It is certified 11 times platinum and has spent a 114 weeks on the Billboard 200.
In the summer of 1997 Jewel signed on with Sarah McLachlan's celebrated Lilith Fair festival tour. That summer Jewel was featured on the cover of Time magazine and has also been featured on the covers of Rolling Stone twice, Vogue, People, Reader's Digest, Glamour, Details, Seventeen, and Interview.
Jewel's debut poetry collection, A Night Without Armor, was released in May 1998, and quickly became a New York Times' best-seller. It has had 29 printings and has sold over a million copies. The audiobook release of her poetry collection received the 1999 Audie Award from the Audio Publishers Association. Jewel's second book, Chasing Down The Dawn" was more of a biography. It has sold well, but not as well as "A Night Without Armor."
Jewel's second album was released in November,1998. "Spirit" debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum at release. It received double-platinum certification just two weeks later and is now certified quadruple-platinum. "Spirit" features the hit singles "Down So Long," "Jupiter (Swallow the Moon)," and "Hands."
Jewel has performed to sell-out crowds in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. In 1998 she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXXII and played for Pope John Paul II as part of the 6th Annual Natale in Vaticano concert in Vatican City. She also sang in New York City at the annual "Christmas In Rockefeller Center" broadcast, which was viewed by more than 10 million people around the world.
In 1999 Jewel and her mother founded Higher Ground for Humanity (HGH), a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting global community and individual action to inspire positive change. HGH provides education, research, innovative partnering, and program development in the areas of youth, the arts, the environment, alternative health care, spiritual growth, and global community building.
Jewel has been the recipient of a great many honors including the 1997 American Music Award for "Best New Artist," the 1997 MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," three Grammy Award nominations, the 1999 Governor's Award from the Los Angeles chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the 1999 "Founder's Choice Award" from the non-profit Time For Peace organization, as well as being named one of Glamour magazine's 10th Anniversary "Women Of The Year" for her dedication to humanitarian goals.
In 1999 Jewel made her acting debut in Ang Lee's Civil War drama, "Ride With The Devil." She was also a special guest on Merle Haggard's 1999 album "For The Record." The album includes two duets between Jewel and Haggard, "That's The Way Love Goes" and "Silver Wings." and they also performed at the 33rd Annual Country Music Association Awards as well as on Haggard's live Pay-Per-View concert, "Merle Haggard: For The Record."
1999 also saw the release of Jewel's autobiographical documentary "Jewel: A Life Uncommon" and the release of "Joy: A Holiday Collection," which includes a unique Christmas version of "Hands." Jewel also filmed a special holiday installment of PBS' acclaimed "Sessions At West 54th" to support the release of "Joy.",
In addition to the those appearances listed above, Jewel has appeared on many television programs, including VH1 Storytellers. Saturday Night Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Live! Regis & Kathie Lee, Charlie Rose, The View, and MTV's Total Request Live and MTV Live. In February 2000, Jewel taped an appearance on PBS' live concert series "Austin City Limits."
Bio written by: graybeard |
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