Norah Jones Bio: Songs, Husband, Age, Net Worth, Parents, Kids, Albums, Height, Ethnicity

Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist born on March 30, 1979, in New York City.

The daughter of Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones, she grew up in Grapevine, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, after her parents separated.

Raised primarily by her mother, she had minimal contact with her father during childhood, drawing her early musical inspiration instead from her mother’s record collection, which introduced her to jazz, soul, and blues.

Her talent showed itself early. She joined a church choir at the age of five before going on to win singing and composing awards at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. She later enrolled at the University of North Texas to study jazz piano, where she continued to hone a voice and style unlike anyone else’s.

She rose to international stardom with her debut album Come Away with Me (2002), a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music that earned her multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Don’t Know Why.”

She has since released a series of critically acclaimed solo albums, including Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off the Floor (2020), and Visions (2024), as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots. She also made her acting debut in 2007, starring in My Blueberry Nights, directed by Wong Kar-Wai, a film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

One of the most decorated artists of her generation, Norah Jones remains a definitive voice at the crossroads of jazz, pop, and Americana.

Norah Jones
Wiki Facts & About Data
Real Name:	Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
Stage Name:	Norah Jones
Born:	March 30, 1979 (age 47 years old)
Place of Birth:	Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
State Of Origin:	New York, United States
Nationality:	American
Ethnicity:	Mixed (Bengali Indian and White American, Welsh, Irish, Norwegian)
Education:	Colleyville Middle School, Grapevine High School, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Dallas, Interlochen Center for the Arts (summers), University of North Texas (jazz piano, did not graduate)
Height:	5 feet 1 inch (157 cm)
Religion:	Spiritual (Christian mother, Muslim father; attended Baptist church as a child)
Parents:	Ravi Shankar (father), Sue Jones (mother)
Siblings:	Anoushka Shankar, Shubhendra Shankar
Spouse:	Pete Remm (m. 2014)
Relationship:	Lee Alexander (2000 to 2007)
Children:	2
Occupation:	Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Actress
Net Worth:	$25 million

Early Life & Education

Norah Jones was born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar on March 30, 1979, in New York City. Her birth date places her under the Aries zodiac sign. She later changed her name to Norah Jones at the age of 16, with both parents’ consent.

She is the child of Indian sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar and white concert producer Sue Jones, making her half Indian and half white American. Her mother is of Welsh descent, with Irish and Norwegian ancestry.

On religion, her mother is a Christian, and her father practised Islam. As a child growing up in Grapevine, Texas, she attended a Baptist church with friends from school while her family worshipped at home. She considers herself more spiritual than religious.

Her mother, Sue Jones, is a nurse and music promoter. Her father, Ravi Shankar, is a world-famous musician from India, widely known for his association with the Beatles and other Western musicians; he taught Beatles’ guitarist George Harrison how to play the sitar. The two were never married and separated after Norah’s birth, and Norah and her mother then moved to Texas. She had no contact with her father for ten years. She saw him a few times a year until she was nine, then reconnected at 18.

Norah has two half-siblings through her father: Anoushka Shankar and Shubhendra Shankar. Anoushka Shankar is a sitarist, composer, and actress born on June 9, 1981, in London. Shubhendra Shankar, also known as Shubho Shankar, was an Indian graphic artist, musician, and composer born on March 30, 1942. He died on September 15, 1992, aged 50, in Los Alamitos, California.

Norah attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While still in high school, she played the saxophone, sang in the choir, and won the 1996 and 1997 DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition.

She also attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. After high school, she enrolled at the University of North Texas, majoring in jazz piano, but left before her third year. In the summer of 1999, a songwriter friend offered her a sublet in Greenwich Village; she headed to New York and never returned home.

Career

Norah Jones launched her professional music career in New York after leaving the University of North Texas in the late 1990s. She was scraping together a living in New York when Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall signed her to his label in 2001.

Her debut album, Come Away with Me, released in 2002, was a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music that became a critical and commercial success. It earned her multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Don’t Know Why.”

The record announced her as one of the most distinctive new voices in popular music and went on to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide. Norah Jones launched her professional music career in New York after leaving the University of North Texas in the late 1990s. She was scraping together a living in the city when Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall signed her to his label in 2001.

Her debut album Come Away with Me won five Grammy Awards in 2003, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for “Don’t Know Why,” and Best New Artist, propelling her from jazz obscurity to global stardom and establishing her signature breathy vocals and understated elegance. The record went on to be certified diamond, selling over 27 million copies worldwide.

Her follow-up, Feels Like Home, debuted with the largest opening week for a solo female artist at the time, shifting 1.02 million copies, while Not Too Late, recorded entirely at home, topped the Billboard 200. Jones won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single “Sunrise” and took Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Here We Go Again,” a duet with soul legend Ray Charles from his album Genius Loves Company.

The Fall (2009) also gained platinum status and was generally well received by critics. Her fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts (2012), was a striking collaboration with producer Danger Mouse that SPIN called “the second essential record of Norah Jones’ career.”

Throughout her career, Norah Jones has operated as much more than a solo artist. She formed The Little Willies in 2003 alongside Richard Julian, Jim Campilongo, Lee Alexander, and Dan Rieser. The alternative country band released its eponymous debut album in 2006 and For the Good Times in 2012. She also formed Puss N Boots with Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper, and has recorded with the collective El Madmo.

The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her versatility by collecting collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, OutKast, and Herbie Hancock. She and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day also recorded a duet album, Foreverly (2013), covering songs from a 1958 Everly Brothers release.

Norah Jones made her acting debut in 2007, starring in My Blueberry Nights, directed by Wong Kar-Wai, a film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

She continued releasing albums through Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off the Floor (2020), the live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021), the holiday album I Dream of Christmas (2021), and Visions (2024). Visions was produced by Leon Michels and described as “a funky, gently psychedelic garage-soul record,” reflecting her continued artistic evolution.

In 2022, she launched her podcast Norah Jones Is Playing Along, featuring candid conversations and impromptu musical collaborations with fellow musicians. As of 2026, Norah Jones has sold over 53 million records worldwide and won ten Grammy Awards.

Social Media

• Wikipedia: Norah Jones
• Facebook: Norah Jones (@norahjones)
• Instagram: Norah Jones (@norahjones)
• YouTube: Norah Jones
• IMDb: Norah Jones
• X: Norah Jones (@NorahJones)

Personal Life

Norah Jones is 47 years old, born on March 30, 1979.

Norah Jones stands at a height of 5 feet 1 inch (157 cm) and weighs around 53 kg.

Norah Jones is married to Pete Remm, a musician and keyboardist. The couple began dating when she was recording her album Little Broken Hearts in 2012 and married in 2014. Pete Remm hails from New York City and has often been described as a “mysterious man.”

He has no social media presence beyond an old Myspace account. A musician and songwriter himself, he plays a wide range of instruments including electric guitar, organ, piano, and drums, and has collaborated with Jones on multiple tracks and albums over the years. Jones has built her career earning ten Grammy Awards, selling 53 million albums, and amassing 11 billion streams. Her 2024 album Visions included a song co-written with Remm titled “I’m On My Way.”

The couple has kept their marriage largely out of the public eye. Jones has always been quite private about her personal life and never took her husband’s name in interviews. In 2016, Remm’s identity was accidentally revealed by fellow musician Valerie June in an interview with NPR. It has not been publicly confirmed whether the two had a formal wedding ceremony or the exact date of their marriage.

Jones and Remm have two children together: a son, born in February 2014, and a daughter, born in July 2016. The couple have kept the children’s names and faces hidden from the public.

Before Pete Remm, Norah Jones was in a long-term relationship with bassist and songwriter Lee Alexander. Lee Alexander is an American bassist, songwriter, and music producer best known for his work on Norah Jones’ albums Come Away with Me, Feels Like Home, and Not Too Late.

He was also a member of The Little Willies alongside Jones. The two dated from 2000 to December 2007. The breakup rocked every part of her world.

After years of living in homes in Brooklyn, Jones bought a loft in Manhattan’s East Village and began writing new songs, eventually parting ways with the band she had toured with for seven years, which had included Alexander. Her album The Fall, released in 2009, was about her relationship with Alexander.

Norah Jones has no other publicly confirmed relationships beyond these two.

Net Worth

Norah Jones has an estimated net worth of $25 million, built entirely through her own work in music across more than two decades. Remarkably, this fortune was built without any inheritance or financial support from her famous father.

The bulk of her wealth traces back to record sales. Come Away with Me alone sold over 27 million copies worldwide, earning diamond certification and generating an estimated $40 million in gross revenue.

Her subsequent albums each achieved platinum status, with Feels Like Home (2004) selling over a million copies in its first week, and Not Too Late (2007) and The Fall (2009) both moving more than a million units. Beyond album sales, her income streams span music royalties, live performances, collaborations, and acting work. She is estimated to earn around $3 million annually from her career.

Discography

Solo Studio Albums

• Come Away with Me (2002)
• Feels Like Home (2004)
• Not Too Late (2007)
• The Fall (2009)
• Little Broken Hearts (2012)
• Day Breaks (2016)
• Pick Me Up Off the Floor (2020)
• I Dream of Christmas (2021)
• Visions (2024)

Live Album

• ‘Til We Meet Again (2021)

EPs

• Begin Again (2019)

Compilation Albums

• …Featuring Norah Jones (2010)

Collaborative Albums

• New York City (2003) – with the Peter Malick Group
• The Little Willies (2006) – as a member of The Little Willies
• Rome (2011) – with Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, and Jack White
• Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles (2011) – with Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis
• For the Good Times (2012) – as a member of The Little Willies
• Foreverly (2013) – with Billie Joe Armstrong
• No Fools, No Fun (2014) – as a member of Puss N Boots
• Sister (2020) – as a member of Puss N Boots

Singles

• “Don’t Know Why” (2002)
• “Feelin’ the Same Way” (2002)
• “Come Away with Me” (2002)
• “Turn Me On” (2003)
• “Sunrise” (2004)
• “Those Sweet Words” (2004)
• “What Am I to You?” (2004)
• “Thinking About You” (2004)
• “Sinkin’ Soon” (2007)
• “Not Too Late” (2007)
• “Chasing Pirates” (2009)
• “Even Though” (2009)
• “It’s Gonna Be” (2010)
• “Happy Pills” (2012)
• “After the Fall” (2012)
• “Miriam” (2012)
• “Long Time Gone” (2013)
• “Tragedy” (2016)
• “Flipside” (2016)
• “To Live” (2020)
• “I’m Alive” (2020)
• “Running” (2024)
• “Summertime Blue” (2024)

Filmography

Movies

• Two Weeks Notice (2002) – soundtrack contribution
• My Blueberry Nights (2007) – lead actress
• Wah-Wah (2005) – soundtrack contribution
• Ted (2012) – herself
• They Came Together (2014) – herself

TV Shows

• Saturday Night Live (2002, 2004) – musical guest
• Sesame Street (2004) – guest appearance
• 30 Rock (2009) – guest appearance
• Helpsters – guest appearance
• In the Know – voice role

What People Ask