Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Diana Krall
Diana Krall at a CD signing in Toronto, Canada (Sept 2007)
Background information
Born	November 16, 1964 (1964-11-16) (age 44) Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Genre(s)	Jazz, traditional pop
Occupation(s)	Singer Pianist Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals Piano
Voice type(s)	Contralto 1
Years active	1985 — present
Label(s)	Justin Time GRP Impulse Verve
Associated acts	Elvis Costello
Website	DianaKrall.com

Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer. She is known for her graceful contralto vocals. ²

Biography

Krall was born into a musical family in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. She began learning the piano at the age of four. In high school, she started playing in a small jazz group. When she was 15 she started playing regularly in several Nanaimo restaurants.

At age seventeen she won a scholarship from the Vancouver International Jazz Festival to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In Nanaimo her playing attracted the attention of famed bass player Ray Brown (ex-husband of the late Ella Fitzgerald, long-time member of the Oscar Peterson Trio and Grammy-winning composer) and drummer Jeff Hamilton. After hearing her play, Brown and Hamilton persuaded Krall to move to Los Angeles, and study with pianist Jimmy Rowles, with whom she began to sing. This also brought her into contact with influential teachers and producers. In 1990, Krall relocated to New York.

Her father Jim Krall's large record collection helped to expose the young Krall to jazz legends. Diana lost her mother Adella to multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of also losing her mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney. Diana's only sibling, Michelle, a former member of the RCMP, actively supports her older sister's career.

Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003 at Elton John's estate outside London. Their first children together, twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.

Professional career

In 1993, Krall released her first album, Stepping Out, which she recorded with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton. It caught the attention of producer Tommy LiPuma, who produced her second album, Only Trust Your Heart (1995).

Her third, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio (1996), was nominated for a Grammy and continued for 70 weeks in the Billboard jazz charts. Love Scenes (1997) quickly became a hit record with the trio of Krall, Russell Malone (guitar) and Christian McBride (bass).

In August 2000, Krall was paired on a 20-city tour with Tony Bennett.

Orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel provided the background on When I Look In Your Eyes (1999); more Grammy nominations came along, and she was rewarded as Best Jazz Musician of the Year. The band mix was kept, following arrangements on The Look of Love (2001) created by Claus Ogerman; this record achieved platinum status and reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The Look of Love went to number one on the Canadian album charts and went quadruple platinum in that country. The title track from the album, a cover of the Casino Royale standard popularized in the late 1960s by Dusty Springfield and Sergio Mendes, reached number 22 on the adult contemporary chart.

In September 2001, Krall began a world tour. Her concert at the Paris Olympia was recorded and released as her first live record. Diana Krall - Live in Paris topped the Billboard jazz charts, went top 20 on the Billboard 200 and went top five in Canada. It garnered her second Grammy (Best Vocal Jazz Record) and a Juno Award. The album included covers of Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are" (a hit on U.S. smooth jazz radio) and Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You."

After marrying Elvis Costello, she worked with him as a lyricist and started to compose her own songs, resulting in the album The Girl in the Other Room. The album, released in April 2004, quickly rose to the top five in the United Kingdom and made the Australian top 40 album charts. "Temptation", a cover of the Tom Waits's song off his Frank's Wild Years album of 1987, reached number one of the World Jazz Charts (based on the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and China).

She also joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company album in 2004 on the song, "You Don't Know Me."

In late May 2007, Krall was featured in a Lexus ad campaign. [1] She also sang, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with piano accompaniment by legendary pianist Hank Jones.

According to her official site, her new CD is scheduled for an early 2009 release.

Grammy history

Honours

In 2000, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 2003 she was given an honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria. In 2004, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2005, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

She is an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Adella Krall, mother of Diana Krall, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996 and died May 2002 at the age of 60.

Discography

• 2007 - The Very Best of Diana Krall - (Verve Records)
• 2006 - From This Moment On - (Verve Records)
• 2005 - Christmas Songs with the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra - (Verve Records)
• 2004 - The Girl in the Other Room - (Verve Records)
• 2002 - Live in Paris - (Verve Records)
• 2001 - The Look of Love - (Verve Records)
• 1999 - When I Look in Your Eyes - (Verve Records)
• 1998 - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (EP) - (Impulse! Records)
• 1997 - Love Scenes - (Impulse! Records)
• 1995 - All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio - (Impulse! Records)
• 1995 - Only Trust Your Heart - (GRP Records)
• 1993 - Stepping Out - (Justin Time Records)
• 1989 (2002) - Heartdrops with Vince Benedetti - (TCB, unauthorized)

DVDs

• 2007 - The Very Best of Diana Krall - (Verve Records)
• 2004 - Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival - (Verve Records)
• 2002 - Live in Paris - (Eagle Records, Pioneer DVD)

Film

• 2004 - DeLovely - music performer "Just One of Those Things"

References

1. ^ Barnes and Noble review: Diana Krall.
2. ^ Barnes and Noble review: Diana Krall.
3. ^ Grammy Award search engine

External links

Wikinews has related news:

Canadian jazz star Diana Krall gives birth to twin boys

• Diana Krall's website
• Diana Krall's German website
• UltimateDianaKrall.com: The Official Verve Records Site
• Diana Krall Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
• "The State of Jazz Vocals Today" by Ted Gioia, Jazz.com.
• DianaKrallFans.com, A Popular Fan Site
• Diana Krall performing live