Biography

Jewel was born in Payson, Utah in 1974. She was raised on an 800 acre homestead in Homer, Alaska by her parents Atz and Lenedra Kilcher.

Jewel started performing when she was 6, with her parents, singing at clubs and bars. Two years later, her parents divoriced and Jewel stayed with her father, and performed with him for the next seven years.

When she was a junior in high school, Jewel attended Interlochen Fine Arts Academy, in Michigan. 70% of her tuition was paid for by a vocal scholarship. There, she began playing guitar and writing songs.

She graduated in 1992, and moved to San Diego to live with her mother. She worked and got fired from a number of jobs, and then decided to move into her VW van. Eating a diet of carrot sticks and peanut butter, she settled down to write songs and play guitar.

Jewel began playing weekly gigs at the Innerchange coffeehouse. A mere $3 would get you 3-4 hour sets of original material, the only exeption being the occasional cover of Tracy Chapman's "Behind the Wall". Soon word got around of this young singer/songwriter, and record companies were racing eachother to San Diego too hear Jewel sing.

After considering her options, Jewel signed a contract to Atlantic records and she went on to record Pieces of You. Much of the album was recorded live, right there at the coffeehouse.

In 1995, Pieces of You was released, but it didn't even get into the Billboard Top 100 until some 14 months later. In that time Jewel was touring constantly, opening for bands, trying to promote her album. Who Will Save Your Soul was the album's first single, and Jewel was gaining popularity. Two more singles were released from the album: You Were Meant For Me and Foolish Games.

1998 was a year of multimedia success for Jewel. She published her first book of peotry, A NIght Without Armour and starred in a Ang Lee directed movie Ride With The Devil which will be released later in 1999. Her long awaited second album Spirit was released, and later in 1999 a new album of holiday material will also be released.