This article is about the talented singer who has earned countless awards and sold over 53 million records worldwide. Learn more about Norah Jones’s childhood, musical career, and personal life at manhattan-trend.
Early Years
Norah Jones (born Geethali Shankar) is an American singer and musician. She was born on March 30, 1979, in Manhattan to Indian musician Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones. She attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. As a child, Jones began singing in church and also took voice and piano lessons. In high school, she sang in the school choir, participated in the band, and played the alto saxophone. During the summers, Jones also attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts. While still in school, she won a DownBeat Student Music Award for Best Jazz Vocalist and another for Best Original Composition. At the age of 16, with her parents’ consent, she officially changed her name to the now-famous Norah Jones. Norah pursued higher education at the University of North Texas (UNT), where she majored in jazz piano and singing. During this period, she met singer Jesse Harris, with whom she formed a band about a year later. Their subsequent recordings would go on to become bestsellers.
Continued Professional Success
Before releasing her first studio album, Norah Jones performed for a time with jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, the New York trip-hop group Wax Poetic, and guitarist-producer Peter Malick. After moving to New York, Jones signed with Blue Note Records, a deal that resulted from her performances as the lead vocalist for the JC Hopkins Biggish Band. In 2002, Jones launched her solo music career with the release of “Come Away with Me,” an album that blended jazz, folk, pop, and blues to critical acclaim. It soon reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, while the single “Don’t Know Why” hit No. 1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents chart and No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. At the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003, Jones was nominated for eight awards and won five, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. “Come Away with Me” was certified platinum for selling one million copies. In 2005, it was certified diamond for selling ten million copies.
In 2004, she released her second studio album, “Feels like Home,” which topped the charts in at least 16 countries. At the 47th Grammy Awards in 2005, the album was nominated for three awards, winning one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song “Sunrise.”
In 2007, Norah Jones released her third album, “Not Too Late.” This was the first album on which the singer co-wrote every song. “Not Too Late” reached number one in the U.S., selling 405,000 copies. Jones’s fourth studio album, “The Fall,” debuted in 2009 at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 180,000 copies in its first week. Her fifth studio album, “Little Broken Hearts,” was released in 2012, after which she embarked on another world tour with stops in Europe, South America, Australia, North America, and Asia. Her sixth studio album, “Day Breaks,” featuring nine new songs and three covers, came out on October 7, 2016. “Carry On,” the album’s lead single, was released digitally on the same day. Jones’s seventh studio album, “Pick Me Up Off the Floor,” was released on June 12, 2020.
Her eighth studio album, “I Dream of Christmas,” was released in 2021, with an expanded version following in 2022. In 2024, Jones released her ninth studio album, “Visions,” produced by Leon Michels. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025, marking Jones’s tenth win in this category.
Personal Life
Regarding her personal life, Norah Jones was in a romantic relationship with bassist Lee Alexander from 2000 to 2007. In 2014, she married keyboardist Pete Remm. The couple has two children.
