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Diana Jean
Krall,
OC, OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and
singer. 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 the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and
completed three terms. 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. 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. 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. Krall's only sibling, her sister Michelle, actively supports
her older sister's 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.
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.
Official Site: www.dianakrall.com
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