Jewel

Biography

A contemporary folkie renowned for her expressive, crystalline voice, singer/songwriter Jewel was among the most successful female performers to dominate the pop charts throughout the 1990s. Born Jewel Kilcher on May 23, 1974, in Payson, UT, she was raised in remote Homer, AK, and began her music career at the age of six, regularly performing alongside her singer/songwriter parents in local Eskimo villages and tourist attractions. After her parents' divorce, she remained with her father, touring with him for the next seven years.

While attending Michigan's Interlochen Fine Arts Academy, Jewel began writing her first songs; upon graduating, she joined her mother in San Diego, suffering through a series of short-lived day jobs before deciding to flee the nine-to-five world for good, at which time she moved into her van and began focusing on a career in music. Her first regular gig was at the Innerchange, a coffeehouse in Pacific Beach; word quickly spread, and by 1993 she was the subject of a rabid local cult following.

After signing to Atlantic, Jewel issued her debut LP, Pieces of You, in early 1995. The record was a slow starter, not even breaking into the Billboard pop charts until some 14 months after its release; however, the single "Who Will Save Your Soul" eventually became a major hit, and soon the album was a best-seller as well. Two other high-charting singles, "You Were Meant for Me" and "Foolish Games," followed. Pieces of You eventually sold more than 12 million copies, making it one of the highest-selling debut albums of all time. Jewel responded to such unexpected success by releasing 1998's Night Without Armor, a collection of her own spoken word poetry, before unveiling her hotly anticipated second album, Spirit. The record yielded another Top Ten hit, "Hands," and enjoyed multi-platinum sales. A seasonal album entitled Joy: A Holiday Collection followed in late 1999, while Chasing Down the Dawn — a spoken word album featuring unabridged selections from the book of the same name — was issued in fall 2000.

This Way appeared one year later and featured such standout singles as "Standing Still;" it also hinted at Jewel's growing fondness for dance music, as a remixed version of "Serve the Ego" wound up topping the American dance/club charts in 2002. Even so, fans and critics were shocked when the singer's next release, 0304, turned out to be a slick dance-pop album. Just as unexpected was Jewel's decision to allow the Schick company to use her album's hit single, "Intuition," for an advertising campaign introducing a new razor. Her new image didn't last long, however, and Goodbye Alice in Wonderland — released in May 2006 — marked a return to the warm sound of the singer's earlier work. Although it debuted in the Billboard Top Ten, the album failed to go platinum and marked the end of Jewel's association with Atlantic Records. Working with producer John Rich of Big & Rich, Jewel subsequently refashioned herself as a country singer for 2008's Perfectly Clear, which debuted atop the country albums charts.