Diana Jean Krall
, OC, OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian jazz pianist and singer. She is known for her contralto vocals. [1]
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Early life
Krall was born into a musical family in
Nanaimo,
British Columbia,
Canada. Her father Jim Krall's large record collection helped to expose the young Krall to jazz legends. 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 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.
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 album,
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. They were paired again for a song on the TV series
Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
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.
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.
[2] She also sang, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with piano accompaniment by pianist
Hank Jones.
Quiet Nights
, her latest album, was released on 31 March 2009.
Personal life
Krall 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 twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born
December 6,
2006 in New York City.
Grammy history
Diana Krall Grammy Award History
[3]
|
Year
| Category
| Title
| Label
| Result
| Notes
|
1996
| Best Jazz Vocal Performance
| All for You
| Impulse!
| Nominated
|
|
1997
| Jazz Vocal Performance
| Love Scenes
| Impulse!
| Nominated
|
|
1999
| Jazz Vocal Performance
| When I Look in Your Eyes
| Verve
| Winner
|
|
1999
| Album of the Year
| When I Look in Your Eyes
| Verve
| Nominated
|
|
2002
| Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
| "Better Than Anything"
| Umvd Labels
| Nominated
| on the album Ask A Woman Who Knows
(Natalie Cole)
|
2002
| Best Jazz Vocal Album
| Live in Paris
| Verve
| Winner
|
|
2005
| Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)
| "Why Should I Care"
| Verve
| Nominated
| arranger (Diana Krall) From the Clint Eastwood film True Crime
|
2007
| Best Jazz Vocal Album
| From This Moment On
| Verve
| Nominated
|
|
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 61.
Discography
- 1990 (2003) - Heartdrops
with Vince Benedetti - (TCB, unauthorized)
- 1993 - Stepping Out
- (Justin Time Records)
- 1995 - Only Trust Your Heart
- (GRP Records)
- 1996 - All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio
- (Impulse! Records)
- 1997 - Love Scenes
- (Impulse! Records)
- 1998 - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
(EP) - (Impulse! Records)
- 1999 - When I Look in Your Eyes
- (Verve)
- 2001 - The Look of Love
- (Verve)
- 2002 - Live in Paris
- (Verve)
- 2004 - The Girl in the Other Room
- (Verve)
- 2005 - Christmas Songs
with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra - (Verve)
- 2006 - From This Moment On
- (Verve)
- 2007 - The Very Best of Diana Krall
- (Verve)
- 2009 - Quiet Nights
- (Verve Records)
DVDs
- 2002 - Live in Paris
- (Eagle Records, Pioneer DVD)
- 2004 - Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival
- (Verve Records)
- 2007 - The Very Best of Diana Krall
- (Verve Records)
- 2009 - Live in Rio - (Eagle Rock Entertainment, 2009). Also available in Blu-ray.
Film
- 2004 - DeLovely
- music performer, "Just One of Those Things"
- 2009 - Public Enemies (2009 film) - girl singer, Bye Bye Blackbird
References
- Barnes and Noble review: Diana Krall.
- {{YouTube|456ksLJu4Bo|Lexus commercial}}
- Grammy Award search engine