Jewel's Factfile

Personal Life
Jewel was born in Payson, Utah in 1974 to Atz Kilcher and Nedra Carol. Here parents were musicians and made a modest living performing in the local bars and lounges. The family moved to Home, Alaska when Jewel was very young to live on a remote farm.

The Kilcher family were known affectionately as 'the Von Trapps of Homer' because of their shared love of music. 'There was always music. We didn't have television so we would all sit around singing. Our family believed that if you played together, you stayed together. Some folk would call us dippy hippies, but music's in our blood. You can't live in a place as wild and beautiful as we do without feeling spiritual and wanting to express yourself.'

When she was eight, Jewel's parents divorced and she was put in her fathers care. Jewel replaced her mother on stage and started singing and yodelling with her father. She then won a vocal scholarship to the prestigious Interlochen Fine Arts Academy in Michigan where she studied opera, sculpture and drama.

After graduation she headed for San Diego, California, to live with her mother. On her mother's suggestion Jewel moved into a camper van to cut down on living expenses and "make herself available to the dream". En route, a career was born.


Did You Know?

Jewel has conquered her dyslexia with a critically derided but commercially successful poetry collection, A Night Without Armor published in 1998. In 2002 the book had sold more than 1 million copies.

Enjoys reading about quantum physics and studying philosophy. "I enjoy quantum physics - it's like a hobby. I've always been a bit of a science freak, really. I grew up on all the classics. My grandfather made me read Nietzsche when I was 14.

Ang Lee cast Jewel as Sue Lee Shelley in "Ride With the Devil", a part period war movie and part western which follows the bloody and increasingly desperate adventures of a gang of Southern bushwhackers, operating on the Kansas/Missouri border.


Cool Credentials

Jewel has set up a film production company, Magic Lantern Entertainment. She will star in the company's first film, "Wave" along with an ensemble cast rumoured to include Goldie Hawn.

Actor, Billy Bob Thornton is a good friend of Jewel's and once said "there are hillbillies in Alaska and Jewel is one of them."

Jewel has graced the covers of "Time", "Rolling Stone" and "Vogue".