Norah Jones on Her New Album and Old Favorites
Celebrated artist discusses her country roots and musical influences.
Nov. 16, 2009 — -- Multi-Grammy-Award-winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones recently sat down with "Nightline" at 1OAK in New York City to talk about her fourth studio album, "The Fall," which hits stores Tuesday.
Jones was born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 30, 1979. Her mother is New York concert producer Sue Jones; her father is Ravi Shankar, the famous Indian sitar player who, during the 1960s, had a strong musical influence on The Beatles.
As a young child, Jones moved with her mother to Grapevine, Texas, where she grew up listening to country legends like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams. One of her earliest musical memories is dancing in the kitchen with her mother to Williams' "Jambalaya."
"I always thought it was a funny song," she said. "[My mom] used to be a dancer and she would always try to teach me to dance in the kitchen ... She would always get me to two-step with her, and we'd just dance to that song."
By age 6, Jones was already singing in a church choir, and she started asking her mother if she could take piano lessons.
"So one day, [my mom] surprised me. I think I was in the bathtub and I heard a bunch of noise, and I came out and there was a piano there," Jones said.
Jones talked about some of the albums that have influenced her.
Ray Charles, "What Would I Do Without You?"
Though Jones started taking piano lessons like any other child, she soon started listening to Ray Charles and tried to copy his piano playing style. She says it's difficult to pick a favorite Charles song.
"I know one [song] that I always loved, and I loved the way he played piano on it, was a song called 'What Would I Do [Without You]?'" she said.
"It's kind of laid back, but it's really got a great groove. I would try to emulate it and imitate what he was playing to learn how to play it."
Jones had an opportunity to sing with Charles before he died.
"It was incredibly thrilling for me. Just standing there singing with him and he was singing right next to me. And yeah, he was just amazing. So raw and great and he was -- you know, not very well at the time, but he still put his all in his music."
