Jewel Kilcher was born on May 23rd 1974 in Payson, Utah. (Not Alaska as many people think!!) Her father is folk artist Atz (pronounced "Otz") Kilcher, her mother is Lenedra Carroll, who used to be a folk singer but now spends more time being Jewels' manager. Jewel also has two brothers, Shane, and Atz Lee Kilcher. Jewel was raised on an 800 acre homestead in Homer, a small town in Northern Alaska, with no running water or luxuries that most people take for granted now. Jewel spent her mornings getting up early to cook breakfast for her brothers, tending to the animals they kept, and doing chores. Jewel was raised as a Morman until the age of 8. At this age, her parents divorced and Jewel stayed with her father. She grew up accompanying her father at his various gigs, performing as a vocalist, thrilling the crowds with her yodelling. (To this day, she sings a rock version of Chime Bells, a folk song she learnt as a child. The speed at which she yodels is absolutely amazing!) Aged 16, Jewel secured a vocal scholarship at Michigans' Interlochen Fine Arts academy where she spent 2 years perfecting that earth shattering voice. After high school, she moved to San Diego to stay with her mother. Ploughing her way through endless, dead-end jobs, she eventually decided that she could no longer live this way. She felt trapped, unable to express the passionate creativity that was inside her. Her mother offered her a solution. She should move into her van and fulfill her dreams. So armed with her guitar, a jar of peanut butter, and some carrot sticks, she settled down to write some songs, observing life around her and combining this with her memories of Alaska and a little imagination, she soon had enough material to impress the owner of a local coffeehouse, the InnerChange in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Next, followed a regular Thursday night spot and a growing crowd. The fairytale was just beginning...... Record executives began to show a great interest in this young Alaskan. Attracted by her folky-blues acoustic strums, the pure honesty and intelligence of her lyrics, and of course, her beautiful, passionate voice, Atlantic eventually captured her and the stunning debut album Pieces Of You was released on February 28th 1995 after over a year of increasing recognition throughout San Diego and an accumulation of over 100 songs. The rest as they say, is history!!!
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