Singer Jewel Kilcher (more popularly known as just “Jewel”) was born on March 22, 1972 in Payson, Utah to Atz Kilcher and Lenedra Carroll. She grew up in Homer, Alaska where she earned a living by singing in bars and taverns with her father. She learned to play the guitar while she was on a scholarship at Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in voice. By the time she was seventeen, Jewel was writing her own songs. At one point in her life, she was poverty-stricken and lived in her van while traveling about the country basking and doing small gigs. She gained little recognition when she sang at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. In 1993, a member of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers discovered Jewel after her performance at a local cafe. He met her at her van and asked her to sing a few songs for him. She was later discovered by Atlantic Records. In 1995, her debut album Pieces of You, was released. Jewel released her other albums in November 1998 (Spirit), November 2001 (This Way), 2003 (0304), and 2006 (Goodbye Alice in Wonderland). Her other later projects included her participation in Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.

Jewel appears in Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, the new reality series from ABC. She joins eleven other celebrities, her boyfriend Ty Murray among them, in the stock car racing competition with six Gillette Young Guns.


(Photo courtesy of ABC)