Norah Jones.

At age 18, Norah Jones enrolled at the University of North Texas College of Music to study jazz piano, but she left before her third year. Geethali Norah Jones Shankar was born on March 30, 1979 in New York City to Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Grapevine High School, and also studied at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Growing up, Jones was exposed to music through her father’s legacy and her mother’s record collection, which included artists like Billie Holiday and Hank Williams. She performed with her father in New Delhi in 1998, an experience that deepened her musical roots.

Norah Jones’s 2002 debut album Come Away With Me won five Grammys in 2003 — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist — and became the best-selling album in Blue Note Records history with over 20 million copies sold. Her follow-up Feels Like Home 2004 debuted at number one in eight countries, and Not Too Late 2007 featured the single Thinking About You. The Fall 2009 marked a shift toward a more rock-oriented sound, while Little Broken Hearts 2012 was produced by Danger Mouse.

Jones has collaborated with diverse artists including Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, Outkast, and Herbie Hancock, as showcased on the 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones. She also performs with side projects: The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots with Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper. In 2022, she launched the podcast Norah Jones Is Playing Along featuring impromptu musical collaborations. Her 2024 album Visions continues her tradition of introspective songwriting.

In 2014, Norah Jones gave birth to a son with her husband, Pete Remm, a musician. She had a second child in July 2016. Jones previously dated her bassist Lee Alexander, with whom she split in January 2008. She married Remm on October 29, 2013.

Jones is the half-sister of sitarist Anoushka Shankar and Shubhendra Shankar. Her half-sister-in-law is British filmmaker Joe Wright. Jones has a light lyric soprano vocal range of 3.3 octaves.

With over 52 million albums sold and nine Grammy Awards, Norah Jones is one of the best-selling music artists of the 21st century. Her debut album Come Away With Me remains the highest-selling album in Blue Note Records history. She shares the record with Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill for most Grammys won by a woman in one night five, a mark later broken by Beyoncé in 2010.

Jones’s influence extends beyond sales: she is credited with reviving interest in jazz-inflected pop and adult contemporary music in the 2000s. In 2022, she launched a podcast that strengthened her role as a connector of musicians across genres. She is remembered for her warm, smoky voice and her ability to turn intimate songs into global anthems.