Jewel

Jewel was born Jewel Kilcher on May 23, 1974 in Payson, Utah. Her ancestors were of the European origin and relocated to the USA in the first half of the twentieth century. Today, Jewel is one of the most outstanding and celebrated pop and folk music stars mainly to her natural strong voice and prominent song writing skills. Although Utah is her native state, Jewel spent her childhood years in Alaska. Aged six, she started practicing music considering it her lifetime occupation. Due to the tourism industry developed in that region, there were many foreigners and people from the rest of the country to come and go. These people constituted Jewel’s audience when she began performing in little villages and towns in Alaska. After the divorce of her parents, Jewel used to travel across the States in the company of her father. When she turned sixteen, she came back to her mother’s and entered the Michigan Fine Arts Academy. There, the girl studied the craft of operatic singing and started writing her own songs. After Jewel found a job at a coffee house as singer, she gradually became drawing interest of the local music lovers and music dealers.

Several sound recording companies competed for the right to sing up the talented artist. Jewel decided that it would be Atlantic Records. She released her debut long player in 1995 under the title Pieces Of You. It was only after the release of the hit single Who Will Save Your Soul, that the album became a good seller and reached the multi-platinum status. As part of promotion action, the singer also issued the singles You Were Meant For Me, and Foolish Games. In 1998, Jewel tried her abilities in a different sphere as she recorded a CD with her own poems, A Night Without Armor, performed by herself. This work raised a stir in the literature circles and was named by New York Times one of the year’s best events in poetry. Also in 1998, Jewel teamed up with producer Patrick Leonard to prepare her sophomore album, Spirit. It debuted third in the US charts with its single Hands included in Billboard’s Top Ten. In a year, Jewel had her first acting experience, featured in Ride With The Devil. The same year, she issued a compilation called Joy: A Holiday Collection.

In 2001, Jewel was through with her third studio album, This Way. The record met praiseful reviews and seemed to show the singer’s highest point of professional growth. However, two years later, Jewel outdid herself with the log player 0304. This effort consolidated her status of the international music star. This happened mainly due to the strong pop-orientation of the featured material. In 2006, Jewel made an attempt to come back to the genre she started her career with. Goodbye Alice in Wonderland was a rock-n-roll and folk album to please the artist’s old supporters. After the preparation of the 2007 live album The Essential Live Songbook, Jewel recorded two country-based albums, Perfectly Clear (2008) and Lullaby (2009) to once again how rich her talent and creativity are. The release of the singer’s ninth studio work titled Sweet And Wild took place in 2010. That record completely satisfied Jewel’s fans’ expectations, which is not a surprise – the artist always pulls out all the stops, whether she performs in front of the audience of works in the studio. There is no doubt that the long play Sweet And Wild will be interesting for all the connoisseurs of high quality music and lyrics.