Jewel

From the remote tundra of her Alaskan youth to the triumph of international stardom, Jewel has traveled a singular road as an acclaimed singer, songwriter, poet, actress and painter. The three-time Grammy nominee, hailed by The Times of London as the most sparkling female singer-songwriter since Joni Mitchell, nevertheless remains a unique and authentic artist, exploring fresh musical avenues for more than a decade that have taken her from the simplicity of acoustic-driven folk to the embrace of rock, pop, country, blues, jazz and classical influences. To date, Jewel has sold over 25 million albums worldwide, enjoying a career longevity rare among her generation of artists. Whether alone with her guitar or fronting a band of ace musicians, Jewel has always been a charismatic live performer, earning the respect of other singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young, who have invited her to open their shows. Her singular style and beauty continuously land her on the covers of such diverse magazines as Time, People, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, InStyle, Glamour and Seventeen. Stuff listed her among its '102 Sexiest Women in the World while Blender went further, crowning her 'rocks sexiest poet.

Jewels personal odyssey, partly chronicled on her eleven-time platinum debut album, Pieces of You, comes to full flower in her new release, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Atlantic), slated for release on May 2. Marking her first album in three years, her sixth all told, Alice is her most autobiographical work in more than a decade, tracing her path from the extreme solitude of Alaska to the extreme joys and pitfalls of fame. Its title also alludes to other fantasies: the fairy tales we are told in youth about life, love and friendship versus the more complex, and often disheartening, truth. With some songs freshly written, others drawn from her astounding catalog of nearly 500 original works, she explains, I spent a lot of time sequencing this album so each song sets up the next, like a novel with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Ruminating on an Alice in Wonderland theme, Jewel explains, The record business has been the little bottle of elixir that said Drink me! and it has taken me on one hell of a wild ride. But thats a whole other story and maybe one left best for the record to tell.