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Jewel
USO concert aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) in the Mediterranean.
Background information
Birth name	Jewel Kilcher
Born	May 23, 1974 (1974-05-23) (age 33) Payson, Utah, United States
Origin	Homer, Alaska, United States
Genre(s)	Pop, folk, pop rock, adult contemporary, country
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, guitarist, poet, actress, philanthropist
Instrument(s)	Singing, guitar
Years active	1995–present
Label(s)	Atlantic, Valory Music
Website	www.jeweljk.com

Jewel Kilcher^[1] (born May 23, 1974)^[2] is an American singer, songwriter, actress, poet and philanthropist, generally known just by her first name, Jewel.^[3] She has received three Grammy Award nominations. Her debut album "Pieces of You" became one of the best selling debut albums of all time going platinum twelve times.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Music career 2.1 Early 2.2 Peak 2.3 Late career 3 Film and theater 3.1 Television 3.2 Minor 4 Writing 5 Philanthropy 6 Discography 6.1 Albums 6.2 DVDs 6.3 Books 7 Major tours 8 Awards 9 References 10 External links

Jewel was born in Payson, Utah,^[1] the daughter of Nedra Carroll, an artist and personal manager, and Atz Kilcher, an elementary school music teacher, folk singer and social worker.^[4] Her father is of Swiss-German origin and her mother of Irish descent.^[5] She is the cousin of actress Q'Orianka Kilcher. She spent most of her young life in Homer, Alaska, living with her father.^[6] The home she grew up in did not have indoor plumbing; it had a simple outhouse instead.^[7] She and her father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences she learned to yodel, a quality demonstrated in many of her songs. Her father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before she turned eight.^[8] Yule Kilcher, her grandfather, was a state senator involved in drafting Alaska's constitution for its admission into a state from a territory in 1959 ^[9]

During high school, Jewel was known to spell her name "Jule" or "Juel," but she attributes this to simply playing with her name.^[10]

Jewel learned to play the guitar while on scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in operatic voice. She started writing songs at the age of seventeen.^[11]

For a time, she was poverty-stricken and lived in her van while traveling about the country doing street performance and small gigs.^[12] She gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California.^[13] Her friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns, played the same venues.^[14] Jewel later collaborated with Poltz on some of her songs, including " You Were Meant For Me." (He also appeared in the second, best-known, video for this song.) The Rugburns opened for Jewel on her Tiny Lights tour in 1997. Poltz appeared in Jewel's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar.^[15]

In 1993, Michael Balzary (better known by the stage name – Flea) of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers met Jewel after he saw her perform at a local cafe. He went back to her van where she was living, where she sang a few of her songs to him. He described her singing voice as being "beautiful" and "breathtaking."^[16]

Jewel was discovered by Inga Vainshtein in August of 1993, when a musician from a local San Diego band, Rust, whom Ms. Vainshtein was managing at the time, called to tell her about a girl surfer who sang at a local coffee shop on Thursdays. Ms. Vainshtein drove to Innerchange coffee shop with a rep from Atlantic Records, and after the show they called Danny Goldberg, the head of Atlantic Record's west coast operations, and asked him to pay for Jewel's demo. Ms. Vainshtein eventually became Jewel's manager, and was instrumental in creating a major bidding war, which led to Jewel's deal with Atlantic Records. ^[17] She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995.^[18] Jewel recorded "Pieces of You" in a studio on Neil Young's ranch, and was backed by his band, The Stray Gators, who played on Neil Young's "Harvest" and "Harvest Moon". Part of the album was cut live at the Innerchange Coffeehouse in San Diego where she had risen to local fame. The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak.^[19] The album spawned the Top 10 hits "You Were Meant for Me", "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Foolish Games." The album was a huge success and eventually sold over 12 million copies in the U.S. alone, more than all of her subsequent albums put together.^[20]

Due to her successes, she was chosen to sing the American national anthem at the opening of the Super Bowl in January 1998 in San Diego.^[21] She was introduced as "San Diego's own Jewel!" However, she was criticized for lip-syncing the anthem to a pre-recording. This was especially noticeable due to her missing her cue and not mouthing the first words.

In November 1998, Jewel released her second album, Spirit. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. The songs "Hands" and "Down So Long" hit the Top 10. Other singles followed, a new version of "Jupiter (Swallow The Moon), "What's Simple Is True", the theme song to her upcoming movie, and the charity single "Life Uncommon".^[22]

A year later, In November 1999, Jewel released Joy: A Holiday Collection. The album sold over a million copies and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. She released a cover of "Joy to the World" from the album.^[23]

In November 2001, the album This Way was released. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S., standing as her most critically acclaimed album to date. Jewel hit the Top 10 with the song "Standing Still" and the Top 40 with the song "Break Me". Other singles released were "This Way" and "Serve The Ego", the latter giving Jewel her first number one club hit.^[24]

In 2003 Jewel released her album 0304. She writes in her liner notes, "I wanted to make a record that was a modern interpretation of big band music. A record that was lyric driven, like Cole Porter, that also had a lot of swing. And a lot of it is thanks to Lester, because when I told him I wanted to make a record that combined dance, urban and folk music, he didn't look at me like I was crazy." While some fans considered 0304 an innovative album that held to the tradition of her previous albums, others felt that it was too much of a change from the style of her older albums. Following the limited success of "Serve the Ego", Jewel moved to a more pop-oriented sound with the release of her single, "Intuition." The song, which strays from her usual folk style with simple guitar instrumentation, starts off with a French accordion and experiments with pop beats using synthesizers. The song was successful, reaching #5 on the Billboard Adult Top 40. However, a number of Jewel's fans criticized her for abandoning her traditional folk style in exchange for a new pop sound. Accusations of "selling out" for personal gain, among other things, were made. Despite the different sound style, the song is lyrically similar to her previous work. It has a number of references to culture, including mentioning celebrities such as pop star Jennifer Lopez, model Kate Moss, magazines, film culture and commercialism. ^[25]

On May 2, 2006, Jewel released her sixth album, Goodbye Alice In Wonderland. The album received mixed reviews, but still managed to debut at #8 on the Billboard Albums Chart.^[26] The album sold 82,000 copies in its first week out.^[27] The lead single "Again and Again" has had moderate success on Top 40 Radio, peaking at #16.^[28] The second single, "Good Day", was released to radio in late June but failed to gain any traction on the radio airplay charts. Recently, a video for "Stephenville, TX", her next single, has been seen on Yahoo! Launch.^[29]

As of December 2006, the album barely sold 270,000 copies.^[30] It is notable in that it is the only Jewel album to not achieve Gold certification, even though it is arguably one of her best albums. As one music critic, Timothy Duggan, notes: "This album showcases Jewel's unique talent as a lyricist, alongside a definite growth in her musicianship. It is what 'Pieces of You' might have been had Jewel had the musical knowledge then that she has now. A very satisfying work, all in all."^[31]

Currently, Jewel has released a video for the new song "Quest for Love" as the lead single from the new movie Arthur and the Invisibles. The song is only available on the soundtrack for Arthur and the Invisibles, which was released January 2007.^[32]

In early February 2007, Jewel made a promotional appearance on the T in Boston for the Verizon Yellow Pages, playing songs on a moving subway car and then doing an hour-long acoustic concert in South Station for a large crowd of adoring fans. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Jewel confirmed that she is no longer affiliated with a record label, confirming rumors that Atlantic Records failed to renew her contract after the lackluster sales of her latest album. She also hinted that she would like to do a country album next.^[33] Jewel's album is predicted to be out (at least a single on the radio) by the end of 2007. She is working with John Rich of Big & Rich fame. He says that she is "probably one of the greatest American singer-songwriters we have had." He also said that "every label in Nashville" is talking to her now. ^[34]

In November 2007, Jewel was signed to Valory Records, a new imprint of the independent Big Machine Records label.^[35]

Jewel starred in the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride with the Devil.^[36] Jewel also starred as Dorothy in the 1995 "Dreams Come True" production of "The Wizard of Oz" (available on VHS).^[37]

This article or section needs to be updated. Parts of this article or section are no longer up to date. Please update the article to reflect recent events, and remove this template when finished.

Show	Character	Note	Date Aired
Saturday Night Live	Herself	Host, Joan Allen	1998
VH1's Rock and Roll Hall The Fame	Herself	Performer, sang duet of Here Comes the Sun with Rob Thomas.[38]	2002
VH1's 2003 Diva Duets	Herself	Performer, sang duet of Proud Mary with Beyoncé.[39]	2003
The Lyon's Den	Rob Lowe's ex		2003
The Young and the Restless	Herself	Performed at a fund raiser hosted by characters Nick and Sharon Newman to mark the first anniversary of their teenage daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident.[40]	May 31, 2006
CMT Country Music Awards	Presenter	Presented with Ty Murray	2006
7th Heaven	Herself	Neighbor to characters Kevin Kinkirk and Lucy Camden.[41]	September 2006
Las Vegas	Herself	Sang three songs from Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.[42]	October 26, 2006
Men In Trees	Herself	Sang the song Good Day with a character of Men in Trees.	November 10, 2006
American Idol	Herself, Guest-Judge	American Idol, Season 6 Guest-Judge for the season six premiere / auditions in Minneapolis.[43][44]	January 16, 2007
Nashville Star	Host	Co-host is Cowboy Troy.[45]
Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race	Herself	ABC reality television series featuring a dozen celebrities (including boyfriend Ty Murray) in a stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Jewel matched up against former NBA player John Salley and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler John Cena.[46]	2007
Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge	Herself	American celebrity reality television show on CMT in which nine celebrities from across the board spend 10 days learning how to ride bulls with retired rodeo star Ty Murray (Jewel's long time boyfriend) for the PBR Jack Daniels Invitational in Nashville.	2007

• Lifetime T.V network, has released a commercial starring Jewel to help promote breast cancer awareness.
• In 2006, Jewel appeared with Ty Murray in a Miller Lite Men of the Square Table commercial.
• Jewel has also done many late night talk shows, including Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, and many more taped from 1996 to 2006.
• Jewel was a featured singer in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra television special and 2001 DVD The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, performing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
• Jewel has also appeared on The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour where she performed a duet of Who Will Save Your Soul with Jessica Simpson.
• Jewel was featured on the MTV show Punk'd in 2007.
• Jewel has also been a celebrity judge on Iron Chef America in 2007.

Jewel published a book of poetry titled A Night Without Armor in 1998. Although it sold over 1 million copies and was a New York Times Bestseller, it received mixed reviews.^[47] Jewel went on to write an autobiography titled Chasing Down the Dawn in 2000. Chasing Down The Dawn was a collection of diary entries and musings detailing her life growing up in Alaska, her struggle to learn her craft and life on the road.^[48] Jewel was scheduled to release a third book called Love Poems which was supposed to be an extremely intimate portrayal of her relationship with her boyfriend Ty Murray. It was canceled several months before release because Jewel was worried about Ty's mother's reaction to her intimate confessions.^[49]

In a now-infamous interview with MTV News icon Kurt Loder to support A Night Without Armor, Loder points out that Jewel misused the word "casualty"; her use was in reference to a casual attitude in society, while a casualty is a victim of a person who is killed or injured in a war or disaster. Jewel initially insisted that her usage was correct, but (clearly angry with Loder) quickly said that she was "archaic" and hand-wrote all of her poetry and lyrics, and when combined with her assertion that she was "dyslexic as heck" she sometimes had a hard time typing out her hand-written notes.^[50]

In 1995 Jewel Kilcher performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996.

She formed a non-profit organization called Higher Ground For Humanity with her mother Lenedra J. Carroll and her older brother Shane Kilcher. The organization's main focus became access to clean water in developing countries after The Clearwater Project was launched in 1999. The organization's focus is education, sustainable improvements, and building alliances with like-minded organizations.^[51] The Clearwater Project has taken on projects in South America, Central America, India, and Africa, building wells and water filtration systems. One such project was the reactivation of construction of a well through the use of a solar powered pump for the benefit of the Maasai people in the Sukenia region of Tanzania, Africa. Before Clearwater's involvement villagers were walking as much as 10 hours a day to fetch clean water. Other projects have taken place in Malakkara, India, Gualcea, Honduras, Sisoguichi, Mexico, and Bangladesh.^[52] Jewel donates a portion of her income to the organization and often holds events to benefit the organization.^[53] The organization tends to parallel the career of Jewel since she provides the majority of the organization's funding. As of 2005, the activities of the organization were reduced. In September, 2006, as part of Lifetime Television's Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign, Jewel delivered more than 12 million petition signatures to Capitol Hill, urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005 (S 910/HR1849). The bill would ban the practice of "drive-through" mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital just hours after their surgeries and before they are ready to go home.^[54]

• Jewel has publicly supported The ONE Campaign, to eradicate third world poverty.^[55]
• Jewel served as the honorary chairperson of the 2006 Help the Homeless Walk in Washington, DC.^[56]

Main article: Jewel discography

• 1995: Pieces of You,Michael Montalbano
• 1998: Spirit,Michael Montalbano
• 1999: Joy: A Holiday Collection
• 2001: This Way,Michael Montalbano
• 2003: 0304,Michael Montalbano
• 2006: Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
• March 11, 2008: My Country

• Jewel: A Life Uncommon. An intimate documentary featuring live performances and candid interviews. (1999)
• Live at Humphrey's By The Bay. Shot over two sold-out performances at the San Diego venue. Bonus features include interviews, live footage from her This Way Tour, and a photo gallery. (2004)

• Revealing Jewel An Intimate Portrait from Family and Friends (2003) Edited by Kenneth Calhoun and Cambria Jensen Publisher: Atria (June 5, 2003) ISBN 0743475402
• A Night Without Armor : Poems by Jewel Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (August 3, 1999) ISBN 0061073628
• Angel Standing By: The Story of Jewel by Jewel (January 1999) ISBN 0-312-19827-2
• Jewel: Pieces of You Published by Alfred Publishing Company (November 1997), ISBN 0769216765
• Chasing Down the Dawn: Stories from the road, Published by Harper Paperbacks (November 2001), ISBN 0-06-019200-3
• The Best of Jewel - Piano/Vocal/Guitar Published by Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN
• Jewel Spirit: Guitar Songbook Edition, by Jewel Published by Warner Brothers Publications (January 1999) ISBN 0769273351

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2007)

• Papillion Tour (1997)
• Lilith Fair Tour (1997)
• Tiny Lights Tour (1997)
• Spirit World Tour (1999), Support Acts: Steve Poltz, Rusted Root
• This Way World Tour (2002), Support Acts: M2M, Soul City Cafe Artists (which included Libbie Schrader's band Think of England.)
• New Wild West Acoustic Tour (2002), Support Acts: Stewart Mathis, Jason Mraz
• 0304 World Tour (2003), Support Acts: Josh Kelly (Tour cancelled after death of bassist Terone "T-bone" Hannon.)
• 0304 Acoustic Tour (2003/2004), Support Acts: Madeline Peyroux, Joe Firstman, Ryan Cabrera, Susan Greenbaum, Anne Heaton
• Tour For No Reason [Acoustic] (2005), Support Acts: Joe Firstman
• Summer Tour (2006), Co-headlining tour with Rob Thomas, Toby Lightman opened all dates.
• Goodbye Alice In Wonderland Tour (2006), Tour included dates with a band, but majority were performed as solo acoustic shows. Steve Poltz opened several show.

Year	Award-giving Body	Award	Result
1996	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Female Video - Who Will Save Your Soul	Nominated
	MTV Video Music Awards	Best New Artist	Nominated
1997	American Music Awards	Favorite New Artist	Won
	American Music Awards	Favorite Pop/Rock Artist	Nominated
	VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards	Most Fashionable Video: Foolish Games	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best New Artist	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - Who Will Save Your Soul	Nominated
	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Female Video - You Were Meant For Me	Won
	MTV Video Music Awards	Viewer's Choice - You Were Meant For Me	Nominated
	MTV Video Music Award	Video Of The Year - You Were Meant For Me	Nominated
	Billboard Magazine	#1 Female Singles Artist Of The Year	Won
	Billboard Magazine	Top 40 Artist Of The Year	Won
1998	American Music Awards	Favorite Female Artist	Nominated
	American Music Awards	Favorite LP - Pieces Of You	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - Foolish Games	Nominated
1999	Blockbuster Music Awards	Favorite Female Artist	Won
	Audie Award	Best Spoken Word Album - A Night Without Armor	Won
	Governor's Award	Songwriting Award	Won
2003	Radio Music Awards	Favorite Female Artist - Modern Rock	Won
	Regis & Kelly Awards	Favorite Musical Guest	Won

• Jewel also holds the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest chart run of a single for "You Were Meant For Me (Radio Edit) /Foolish Games".

• The Official Jewel Web Site
• Jewel Kilcher at the Internet Movie Database
• Jewel's Atlantic Records Page
• Jewel's Myspace

v • d • e Jewel
Albums	Pieces of You · Spirit · Joy: A Holiday Collection · This Way · 0304 · Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Singles	"Who Will Save Your Soul" · "You Were Meant for Me" · "Foolish Games" · "Morning Song" · "Hands" · "Down So Long" · "Jupiter (Swallow the Moon)" · "What's Simple Is True" · "Life Uncommon" · "Break Me" · "Serve the Ego" · "Intuition" · "Stand" · "2 Become 1" · "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" · "Again and Again" · "Good Day" · "Stephenville, TX" · "Quest for Love" · "Anybody but You"
Related articles	Discography

v • d • e Nashville Star
Hosts	Nancy O'Dell · LeAnn Rimes · Cledus T. Judd · Sara Evans · Wynonna Judd · Cowboy Troy  · Jewel
Judges	Charlie Robison · Robert K. Oermann · Tracy Gershon · Billy Greenwood · The Warren Brothers · Phil Vassar · Anastasia Brown · Bret Michaels · Randy Owen · Blake Shelton
Winners	Buddy Jewell · Brad Cotter · Erika Jo · Chris Young · Angela Hacker
Other alumni	George Canyon · Miranda Lambert
Related articles	Grand Ole Opry · Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center