CELEB OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL
Jewel Kilcher
Born May 23, 1974 Jewel had talent right from the start. But she grew up without much in her life, things that we would consider essential to our way of life she mostly did without, like television and indoor plumbing, and electricity and well nothing more than one coal furnace to heat her home. Which wouldnt seem so bad if they werent in Alaska, where the temperature stays pretty much in the 20-30 degree range for most of the year. Ok well sometimes it can get up to 45 in the summer, but when your from Sunny southern california like me 45 degrees would freeze you. Jewel grew up on an 800 acre farm in Homer Alaska, which even though it is cold, is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Jewel grew up having to wake up early in morning so that she could hike to the nearest raod (about 2 miles) so that she could hitch-hike to school. And chores were more than you could imagine on a plot of land that size. So needless to say while Jewel was out milking the cows and what not her friends were home watching episodes of He-Man. It was a tough life, but it made the young Jewel realize the importance of nature and made her realize its beauty. At an early age Jewel showed her intrest in wanting to perform, unlike her brothers she wanted to sing all the time. But it was a different form of singing at first. Jewel first started to yodel but not because of her Swiss anscetory or because her father did it, but because of cowboys that she had heard. She was even kicked out of class frequently and sent home with letters to her parents that said, "Please tell young Jewel to stop yodeling in class!". But Jewel's parents had no desire to stop Jewel from developing her talent, even though some people said yodeling at such a young age would cause damage to her vocal cords. She began singing with her father on stage at the age of 6 and singing by herself by the age 8. Soon her mother and father would get divorced and Jewel's life would change dramaticly. She lived with her father and continued to sing to take her mind off various pains. By the time High School came around Jewel was not getting along to well with a house full of men (her father and 2 brothers) and decided to live with her aunt in Hawaii. Now that was a change of climate if I have ever seen one, and Jewel loved that part. but she was constantly teased because of the color of her skin and she had to get out of that quickly. She came back to Alaska and hooked up with her mother who helped her put on a concert that would raise money to put her into the Interlochen Arts Academy school in upper Michigan. There she would study how to perfect her voice as well as picking up the guitar although most of her guitar work was not learned there. She graduated for the school and decided she would not go on to college. It just wasnt something she wanted to do. Instead she found herself not quite fitting in when she came home to Alaska and decided to move to San Diego with her mother. But after time the place they were living in became too costly considering Jewel could not hold down a job for very long and her mother just wasnt making enough. So they had to make a decision of wheather to eat or have a roof over there head. Fortunately there was a compromise. They both moved out and got VW vans and lived in those. Jewel continued to work odd jobs and had to wash her hair in public bathroom sinks. She once let a kidney infection go to long and not being able to afford the medication or even the doctors visit she was turned away numerous times until she finally had to seek help at a hospital. Soon afterward Jewel went to a coffee house and met a person by the name of Steve Poltz. He was a singer/songwriter as well, he held a regular gig at the coffee house where he soon started to share his stage with Jewel. From there Jewel built a small following and soon afterward she would have to find her own stage. The Interchange CoffeeHouse would be the place where Jewel would go, this is where she would officially get her "start" Jewel sang everynight and within a few weeks the place was selling tickets to see her show for five dollars a piece in a standing room only coffeehouse. Word spread and the record making scouts came a lookin'. Jewel released her first album, "Pieces of You" on February 28th in 1995 and it was not much of a hit. It had no backing, no one except the people in San Diego knew her, so she hit the road for 2 years straight playing up to 3 shows a day and in a different city every week. She gained praise city by city and was soon selling 1000 albums a week and her worries were coming to an end.
Info from taken another website (I forget!)
