Norah Jones

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Page SixNORAH Jones, New York's own bluesy jazz chanteuse, is poised to conquer Billboard's Top Album chart this week.Her sophomore effort, "Feels Like Home," is on track to sell more than 800,000 copies, according to Variety, while Hits magazine estimates sales for the Valentine's Day-friendly record could reach as high as 1 million units.The album topped the U.K. charts on Monday, selling 235,000 copies in less than a week.

[princess 1,711]

EOnline.com

 

FEELS LIKE A HIT: Norah Jones' sophomore album, Feels Like Home, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and selling more than 1 million copies, making it the biggest first week for an album since July 2001.

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Norah Jones: Feels Like a Million-SellerTODD PETERSONpeople.comAs Norah Jones's "Feels Like Home" sold an astonishing 1 million copies in its first week on the shelves, one thing was clear: It wasn't supposed to happen this way.It was just two years ago that Jones released her debut album, "Come Away with Me." The disc went on to sell 17 million copies worldwide (it recently reentered the Top 20 with the release of "Feels Like Home"), and net Jones five Grammy awards.Despite Jones's success, "Feels Like Home," which hit shelves Feb. 10, still shattered expectations, and it's now the best-selling debut for an album in nearly three years, since 'N Sync's "Celebrity" sold nearly 2 million copies in July 2001.But to hear Jones talk about her music-making process and the way in which she deals with fame, it's a reminder that it wasn't always this way for the 24-year-old performer. Even after "Come Away with Me" hit shelves, Jones was in such financial straits that the young singer-songwriter with the oh-so-big voice thought she would have to abandon her already-cheap Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment for an even less-expensive living situation.When the album really started to take off, the situation did not improve immediately. Her life went from a lack of financial attention to a surfeit of it -- overnight. She rebelled by refusing to walk the red carpet at the Grammys and by showing up for a publicity photo shoot in a dress from Target, asserting her individuality.That individuality is as apparent on "Feels Like Home" as it is on "Come Away," although Jones still has her misgivings about the new album. "I like this new record, but not better (than 'Come Away'); it's just different," she recently told The New York Times Magazine.But, she added, "A record is just a snapshot of where you are at any time. Making records is fun. It's not some big statement. You're allowed to make mistakes."

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EOnline.com FEELS BRAND NEW: Norah Jones planning to rerelease her current album, Feels Like Home, on Sept. 21 as a double-disc package that will include a DVD and three previously unreleased tracks.

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WORDS TO FORGET

Page Six

 

September 12, 2006 -- NORAH Jones suffered a performer's worst nightmare when she forgot the lyrics to her biggest hit. The sexy singer was at the piano and belting out "Don't Know Why" at Whoopi Goldberg's Rainforest Action Network gala at the Plumm Saturday night when she stopped cold. "She looked confused and just sat there for a minute," said one fan among the celebs who included Chris Noth, Julianna Nicholson, Christopher Meloni, Diandra Douglas and Josh Charles. "Then she said, 'Sorry about that,' and started up again - but she left two lines out." Jones' rep didn't return our call.

[BobbyD 2]

Norah Jones film opens at Cannes

 

CANNES, France (AP) -- The Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 60th edition with an opening movie that blends an indie sensibility and a glittering cast: Wong Kar-wai's New York-California road trip tale starring Jude Law and Norah Jones in her acting debut.

 

The 11-day Riviera festival strives for just the right mix of arthouse films and star power, and "My Blueberry Nights" has both. Hong Kong director Wong ("In The Mood for Love") is a Cannes favorite, as are many of the other filmmakers showing movies for the anniversary edition, including Michael Moore, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers.

 

In the opening film, Jones plays a woman who hits the road to cure her broken heart. Wong heard her sultry voice and knew he had a role for her.

 

"Basically, when you listen to her voice only, without seeing her face, you can have a kind of a story out of it," he said. The movie is his first English-language feature.

 

Jones said she was terrified when they shot her first scene with Law, in a New York cafe.

 

"I remember the first take we did, my voice was really high," she said, finishing her sentence with a squeak. "I was just terribly nervous, and Kar-wai came over and patted me on the back and I relaxed a little."

 

But Wong said Jones grew more at ease over the shoot -- she impressed him in a scene where he asked her to cry.

 

"We rolled the camera and she cried, and after that I said, 'Well, it's great,' and she said, 'Do you want one more?"' Wong said.

 

Other stars in the movie include Natalie Portman, who plays a Nevada girl on a gambling streak; David Strathairn, in a terrific turn as an alcoholic policeman and Rachel Weisz as his unhappy wife.

 

Cannes was founded in 1939 as an alternative to the Venice Film Festival in Mussolini's Italy -- but almost as soon as it opened, the festival was canceled because World War II broke out. Cannes did not get going in earnest until the 1950s.

 

The festival is looking back at its glamorous history this year with a photo exhibit on the beach. There's Cary Grant in black tie, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty hailed by paparazzi and Kim Novak in a limousine, with raindrops sparkling on the window like diamonds.

 

But Cannes is not celebrating its anniversary with nostalgia alone. For a feature-length homage to the movies, it commissioned 35 shorts from directors including Wong, Roman Polanski ("The Pianist"), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel"), the Coens ("Fargo") and Wim Wenders ("Wings of Desire.")

 

Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese ("The Departed") has been enlisted to give a master class on moviemaking. And a host of Hollywood talent will be on hand for the stargazers who wait in the sun with ladders all day to stake their place near the red carpet.

 

Al Pacino, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt will promote threequel "Ocean's Thirteen," Leonardo DiCaprio brings his environmental documentary "The 11th Hour," and celebrity super couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will appear -- he for "Ocean's Thirteen," she for "A Mighty Heart," in which she plays the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

 

The main competition involves 22 films from countries including Israel, South Korea and Mexico, as well as movies from four directors who have already been crowned with Cannes' top prize, the Palme d'Or: Tarantino's gory "Death Proof," the Coens' Rio Grande thriller "No Country for Old Men," Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park" and Sarajevo-born Emir Kusturica's "Promise Me This."

 

Michael Moore, whose "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize at Cannes in 2004, is not competing for awards this year. But "Sicko," his look at the U.S. health care system, is sure to be one of the festival's most talked-about movies. The U.S. Treasury Department opened an investigation into a trip Moore took to Cuba -- accompanied by a group of ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers -- during the film's shooting.

 

Other past winners of the festival's top prize include "Rome, Open City," "The Third Man," "Blowup," "M..A..S..H," "Taxi Driver" and "Apocalypse Now."

 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[BobbyD 2]

All AP News

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Sexiness a Must for Today's Lady Singers

 

She was an "amazing talent," a young singer with a wonderful voice who wrote beautiful songs. But she was no beauty, plus flat-chested and overweight to boot.

 

Remembering the aspiring star, music executive Jody Gerson still feels terrible about thinking: "She's never going to get signed, even though she's fabulous."

 

Gerson might feel even worse after Wednesday night's exit of the matronly Melinda Doolittle from "American Idol." In today's music industry, Plain Janes need not apply. Sex appeal was once considered a bonus for a woman; now it's practically a requirement.

 

Doolittle and the heavyset, gap-toothed LaKisha Jones were widely considered this season's most talented "Idol" contestants. Yet both were eliminated from the final four in favor of Blake Lewis, who makes the teen girls swoon, and the long-locked, 17-year-old looker Jordin Sparks.

 

A quick check of the Billboard Top 40 turns up a list of candidates for "America's Top Model": Avril Lavigne, blonde stunner Carrie Underwood; tomboyish but sexy Ciara, fashionista Gwen Stefani and hip-swiveling Shakira (on a song featuring bootylicious Beyonce).

 

The only two in the Top 40 who might not be considered perfect 10s: Pink, who is still svelte and appealing; and multiplatinum Grammy-winner Kelly Clarkson, who got her break only through winning the democratically elected "American Idol."

 

When asked whether a female with so-so looks and sex appeal could get a record deal, Gretchen Wilson quickly replied: "They can't."

 

"I believe that very few will get through and they better be amazing," Wilson said in an interview. "The music is not about just music anymore, it's about the look, the 'it' factor if you will ... it's marketing."

 

True, looks have always been a part of the music business: Diana Ross played a model in the movie "Mahogany," Marianne Faithfull was considered a beauty, Tina Turner's legs were part of her sex appeal, Olivia Newton-John was the lovely girl-next-door and Stevie Nicks rocked teenage boys with more than just her guitar.

 

But there also were stars like wild-haired, pudgy Janis Joplin and Barbra Streisand, who challenged beauty standards with her protruding nose. Even curvy Aretha Franklin was known mainly for her one-of-a-kind voice.

 

Today, it's hard to find a singer larger than a size 6 and without a sexy look all of which are played up with sensuous videos, modeling spreads and provocative magazine covers. Lavigne, who once scoffed at singers who stripped for the cameras, fronts the new issue of Blender topless save for a strategically placed banner that reads "Hell Yeah, I'm Hot!"

 

The hit reality show "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll" is a striking example. In finding a replacement for current lead doll, stunner Nicole Scherzinger, the judging panel which included the cosmetically enhanced rapper Lil' Kim did talk about vocal qualities. But while a few contestants had strong voices, all were taut, toned and sexy, and the focus was more on their dancing and overall desirability. Which is to be expected from the group responsible for the anthem "Don't Cha" (as in, "don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?").

 

Even singers who are heralded for their talent are gorgeous, like Alicia Keys, Corinne Bailey Rae or Norah Jones. And while critically acclaimed Amy Winehouse may not win any beauty contests, her songs have a raw sexuality that give her that "it" factor.

 

Dolly Parton, whose buxom figure sometimes overshadowed her talent as a songwriter and singer, said being "a good looking woman certainly can't hurt you any if you're trying to make it."

 

"But I would like to believe that true and great and pure talent will rise above whatever else," the country legend said in an interview. "But certainly in music these days, the better you look, the more apt you're going to get a contract.

 

"It's a damn pity, though, that people have to judge real talent on looks."

 

Gerson says the way female artists look reflects our society, where women are constantly judged on their appearance and oversexualized. But she also says it reflects the way we listen to music these days or don't listen.

 

"They have to look hot and sexy in these videos," says Gerson, who is credited with helping discover Alicia Keys, among others, and is now executive vice president of the U.S. Creative division of EMI Music Publishing.

 

"In the days of Aretha Franklin, people saw Aretha maybe a couple of times a year," she said, "but you listened to a record without a visual. You didn't watch it. Everything today, you watch it."

 

Gerson also agrees with Wilson about the marketing factor. With dwindling profits and budgets, record labels try to maximize artist exposure with clothing deals, cosmetic contracts, movie roles and modeling gigs.

 

"How many endorsements does Beyonce have? Do you think it's because she's the most talented person on earth or do you think it's because she's gorgeous? I think she's talented but she's also gorgeous," Gerson says. "I think you need the whole package."

 

And that notion, according to Wilson, "totally sucks."

 

"My favorite singers in the world were Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, and Patsy was a large woman, and Loretta she was never some kind of a supermodel, but they were the greatest female voices in country music, and they changed lives and they made a difference," says Wilson, who, although considered sexy, feels she doesn't fit today's beauty standards.

 

Where are the Patsy Clines of today? More often than not on smaller, underground labels, which put more of a premium on talent. And with the devolution of today's music industry, Gerson says, small labels may be the best path to success for a woman who doesn't look like a mold of a Barbie doll.

 

So how would Gerson advise the flat-chested, overweight, amazingly talented singer to chase her dream? Put out her own music and promote herself on the Web.

 

"As far as we've come as women," Gerson asked, "where are we really?"

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SAD BREAKUP

 

January 7, 2008 -- IT was too late for Norah Jones and her live-in boyfriend and bassist in her band, Lee Alexander. Sources say that the couple, which dated for years, broke up recently and that Alexander was out on the town over the holidays "catching bands and hanging out," trying to mend his broken heart. Jones' third album, "Not Too Late," released last year, was written entirely by her and Alexander, who is believed to still be "friends" with the singer. A rep for the intensely private Jones didn't return calls

NY Post

[DianeXbetty 0]

Court and Spark is a cut on the Herbie Hancock River-The Joni Letters Album that won Best Album Grammy this year. It features Norah Jones and is quite good. Any NJ fans will enjoy it.

[sanlee 49]

Jones’ Zombie Dream

 

 

NORAH JONES has been bitten by the acting bug after making her movie debut in MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS - she now wants to star in a zombie film.

 

Jones insists she won’t be quitting her jazz career and moving to Tinseltown just yet, but she’d love to slap on some fake blood for a horror film - and she’d even sing on the soundtrack.

 

The 29-year-old says, "I’m not out to conquer Hollywood.

 

"I would act again if it was something appropriate or something that sounded like fun.

 

"It would be fun to do a zombie movie. I would probably not want to do a song for the zombie soundtrack - but maybe I would."

 

Source: pr-inside

[ElleDriver 0]

Norah Jones makes film debut

 

Lovely girl, Norah Jones. That sultry voice, armfuls of Grammys, a multiplatinum debut album that produced the ubiquitous hit "Don't Know Why."

 

But for all her charms and obvious talent, Jones seems outmatched in her first film, "My Blueberry Nights," opposite more seasoned actors Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman.

 

The camera certainly loves her: From the first moment you see her with her soulful brown eyes, pillowy lips and mass of dark hair, it's obvious why Wong Kar Wai would be intrigued enough by her to create a starring role with her in mind.

 

But the Hong Kong director's first English-language film, another of his typically moody meditations on love, loss and loneliness, never feels like a comfortable fit for Jones, even though she's made her name with songs that touch on those very themes. You can almost hear her reading her lines; she seems childlike, stiff, unsure of herself.

 

Jones stars as Elizabeth, who has been saddened by a ruined romance. Night after night, she seeks solace at a New York cafe, where the owner, Jeremy (Law), feeds her blueberry pie, listens to her stories and becomes intrigued by her himself. Why blueberry, of all the pies in all the world? Because it's the one that's leftover, untouched, at the end of each day. She feels sorry for it — and he feels sorry for her — but there's an engaging sweetness to the unexpected friendship they forge.

 

A cross-country road trip takes her to Memphis, Tenn., where she waitresses and witnesses the unraveling of a marriage between alcoholic cop Arnie (Strathairn) and his brazenly adulterous, floozy wife Sue Lynne (Weisz). Here, Elizabeth goes by Lizzie, as she gains confidence and saves up some money working days at a diner and nights at a dive bar.

 

Then one day, Lizzie picks up and moves on again — this time to a Nevada casino, where she calls herself Beth. There she befriends the sassy, in-over-her-head poker player Leslie, played by Portman in slinky, low-cut dresses and short, spiky blond hair. The all-grown-up act feels a bit forced on the pixyish Portman, as does her Southern accent, but at least there's a life and an unpredictability to this segment that was missing previously.

 

Wong whips out all his dreamy, draggy visual tricks along the way: the staccato slo-mo, shooting people at night through storefront windows so they're partly obscured by such words as "breads" and "cookies," the intense close-up of juicy blueberries and vanilla ice cream melting into each other (which is perhaps intended as an erotic suggestion, but instead resembles road kill).

 

Wong and co-writer Lawrence Block want us to believe that Elizabeth-Lizzie-Beth affects everyone she meets during her travels. It would be more accurate to say that she happens to be in the right place at the right time when pivotal moments occur in these people's lives. She's really more of a bystander and is, literally, in the film's purest and most emotionally honest moment: a long take in which Weisz tearfully explains the origin of her relationship with the much-older Strathairn.

 

For all its implied weightiness and melancholy, "My Blueberry Nights" is a confection that leaves you feeling empty.

 

"My Blueberry Nights," a Weinstein Co. release, is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including violence, drinking and smoking. Running time: 90 minutes. Two stars out of four.

 

___

 

 

 

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

[ElleDriver 0]

PUPPY LOVE

Page Six

 

April 5, 2008 -- SONGSTRESS turned actress Norah Jones is dreaming of a baby - a baby puppy, that is. Sources say the star of "My Blueberry Nights" has been "telling anyone who will listen that she is desperate to adopt a little dog." A friend of hers said, "Norah is dying for a small puppy in need of a home." Hey, Norah, swing by the Adam + Eve store tomorrow. We hear they're throwing an ASPCA event all afternoon, and tons of animals will be available for adoption.

[ElleDriver 0]

Norah Jones: 'Kissing Jude Law Was Weird'

 

 

Singer-turned-actress Norah Jones was overwhelmed after sharing love scenes with Jude Law in her movie debut My Blueberry Nights - because the on screen couple had to kiss over 90 times. Jones, 29, and the Alfie star lock lips twice in the film - and the first of their embraces took three days to film.

 

She says, "It was an interesting situation and it was just plain weird. I had to kiss Jude about 90 times and I didn't want to laugh, but it seemed so ridiculous. What in the world am I doing kissing Jude Law? He's Jude... and I'm... me."

 

"We laughed a lot between takes. It was actually very choreographed, but there was beautiful music playing in the background. Now when I hear that music I think about kissing Jude Law." /WENN

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Rich Norah Jones

 

Norah Jones doesn't mind if her new album isn't a financial success.

 

The 'Come Away With Me' singer - who is set to return with her fourth album 'The Fall' next month - is happy with her career despite her belief the LP may not do as well as her previous albums.

 

She said: "I'm very aware of the ways things go. It would have been nice to have a steady career and go up and up.

 

"And if you look at it that way, yeah I am just going to keep on going down and that's kind of sad but the truth is it is fine; I have been very successful. I know I will never reach that kind of craziness again, thank God."

 

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old songstress has admitted she found her rise to fame "insane".

 

She explained: "It was a bit overwhelming and I can't say it was all fun. In the beginning it was a lot of work, but, yeah, it was insane.

 

"But people struggle their whole lives making music and don't get any notoriety so I felt really lucky and I also felt, "Wow, I can't believe people really like this." I came to New York to sing jazz and then two years later I had a record deal, and was writing songs. It was amazing."

 

Norah will release her fourth album 'The Fall' on November 17th.

 

Source contactmusic

[sanlee 49]

Norah Jones 'Sad For Amy Winehouse'

 

 

Norah Jones has praised Amy Winehouse for her vocal abilities.

 

The jazz singer told The Sunday Times that it is unfortunate that Winehouse's music is sometimes ignored because of her personal difficulties.

 

Jones said: "I've heard her, of course. I bought her record and I thought it was great. It's sad her life has overshadowed the music. She has a great voice."

 

Of her own ascent to fame, Jones added: "I felt like I was in an alien world. I just wasn't savvy with how to handle it. [Now] I know what I have to do to get the record out there and what I can't do, what I won't do.

 

"Anything I do is not going to be as successful as the first album. I was lucky financially - hopefully I’ll still be able to have my dream, which is to not wait tables."

 

Jones's new album The Fall is released on November 16.

 

Source digitalspy.co.uk

[sanlee 49]

Norah Jones 'Too Dorky For Twitter'

 

Norah Jones has revealed that she struggled to use her Twitter account.

 

According to Contactmusic, the singer decided to set up the page while she was recording her new album but could never think of anything to write.

 

"We acquired the account when I went into the studio because we thought it would be a good idea for me to start being like, 'Hey, I'm in the studio'," she explained.

 

"I stared at that webpage for about two weeks, every few days. I feel like a total dope. Everything that I want to say sounds dorky, and everything that I don't want to say sounds totally contrived."

 

The Fall, Jones's fourth studio album, is released on November 16.

 

Source digitalspy.co.uk

[sanlee 49]

Norah Jones' 'Personal' Album

 

Norah Jones says turning 30 helped her record a "more personal" album.

 

The 'Don't Know Why' singer believes reaching the milestone in March forced her to reassess her life and had a change in her creative approach to making 'The Fall', which has sold over half a million copies since being released last month.

 

She said: "It seems to be an age where everyone goes through changes. All my good friends have. Everyone's either breaking up or getting involved or married or having a baby.

 

"So when I made that album I think I was looking outside myself more at that time, because of where I was and what was going on in the world. The past couple of years, though, I've looked inward more."

 

Norah - who split from long-time boyfriend Lee Alexander earlier in the year - also says she feels no pressure to recreate the huge success she had in her 20s.

 

She added to the USA Today newspaper: "I don't feel like I have anything to prove now. My label actually was excited about me trying something new. I have a lot of support and a lot of freedom. It's a good place to be in."

 

Source femalefirst

[michellelbc 0]

How's her new album. I like the new single and music video.

[sanlee 49]

Jones Eyes Country Album

 

NORAH JONES dreams of indulging her life-long love of country music - by making a "full-on" album dedicated to her favourite genre.

 

The singer, who spent most of her childhood in Texas, recently recorded a duet with Willie Nelson for the veteran singer's American Classic standards album.

 

And Jones admits she's been inspired to fulfil her own musical ambitions by going country.

 

She says, "I love country music. If I listen to Willie Nelson or Hank Williams I feel at home all of a sudden. I'd love to make a full-on country record."

 

Source contactmusic