Norah Jones Live DVD

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Feb 24, 2003

After dominating the 2003 Grammy Awards, Norah Jones has released a live DVD, Live In New Orleans. The 23 year old won all 8 categories in which she was nominated, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

It's been a rocket to the top for the Texas raised singer in the past couple of years. The daughter of musician Ravi Shankar, Jones grew up and attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas. While she listened to the pop and country music her mom and grandparents liked (such as Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson, respectively), she was bitten by the jazz bug, studied piano then majored in jazz piano at North Texas State University. But in the summer of 1999, Jones took a trip to New York City and never moved back. Instead she hooked up with some local songwriters, began writing tunes and performing at small clubs. An EMI employee approached Blue Note Records, best known for its legacy of jazz recordings, with Norah's demo in 2000 and she was signed soon after in January 2001 by the label's president Bruce Lundvall.

She began recording her debut album in May of 2001. She worked initially with producer Craig Street, and then with the legendary Arif Mardin.

On working with Mardin, Jones said, "I was nervous at first. I didn't want some amazing producer who'd done all these famous records to come in and have me be scared to tell him what I thought. But Arif is the nicest guy in the world, very easygoing. He was there to keep my act together and make sure I got a good record...I never thought I'd have a record like this-I thought it would take at least five years before I'd reach that point. This is really the record I wanted to make."

Come Away With Me was released in February of 2002. The accolades starting rolling in immediately. She was heralded by Rolling Stone as one of ten "Artists to Watch" in 2002, and Entertainment Weekly singled her out as one of the coming year's "Brand New Heavies." In addition to universal critical acclaim, the jazz, country, folk, and pop influenced CD also was a best seller, selling over 5 million copies worldwide so far and making it to number 1 on the Billboard Album Chart. And with the attention the 8 Grammy Awards will bring, it's destined to sell millions more.