Norah Jones was born March 30, 1979, in New York City. When she was four years old, Norah and her mother Sue moved to the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, Texas. Norah's earliest musical influences came from her mother's extensive LP collection and from "oldies" radio. She began singing in church choirs at age five, commenced piano lessons two years later, and briefly played alto saxophone in junior high.

When Norah was 15, she and her mother moved from Grapevine to Dallas' central city, where Norah enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. (Erykah Badu and trumpeter Roy Hargrove are also Washington alumni.)

Norah played her first gig on her 16th birthday, an open-mic night at a local coffeehouse, where she performed a version of "I'll Be Seeing You" that she'd learned from Etta James' treatment of this Billie Holiday favorite. While still in high school, Norah won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition in 1996, and earned a second SMA for Best Jazz Vocalist in 1997. After graduation, Jones entered the University of North Texas, nationally renowned for its music programs, where she majored in jazz piano. She also sang with a band called Laszlo, playing what she describes as "dark, jazzy rock."

In the summer of 1999, Norah accepted a friend's offer of a summer sublet in Greenwich Village. She came to Manhattan and never returned to UNT.

Jones won eight Grammy Awards in 2003 and three in 2005. Before stardom, she developed a great Dallas following by playing at open mic nights at The Cavern on Lower Greenville for about a year.

Information from Blue Note record label

Musicians

• Norah Jones: lead vocals, piano, vocals

Albums

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