Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall OC OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals.[1] She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million albums worldwide. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–09), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
Diana Krall | |
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Krall at a CD signing in Toronto in September 2007 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Diana Jean Krall |
Born | Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada | November 16, 1964
Genres | Jazz, traditional pop, bossa nova |
Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter |
Instruments | Vocals, piano |
Years active | 1993–present |
Labels | Justin Time GRP Impulse Verve |
Associated acts | Eliane Elias, Shirley Horn, Elvis Costello, Tony Bennett |
Website | www |
Krall is the only jazz singer to have had eight albums debuting at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums.[2] To date, she has won three Grammy Awards and eight Juno Awards. She has also earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multi-platinum albums.
Early years
Krall was born on November 16, 1964, in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, the daughter of Adella A. (née Wende), an elementary school teacher, and Stephen James "Jim" Krall, an accountant.[3][4][5] Krall's only sibling, Michelle, is a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Krall's father played piano at home and her mother sang in a community choir. Krall began studying piano herself at the age of four,[6] and took exams through The Royal Conservatory of Music.[7] In high school she was a member of a student jazz group; at 15, she began playing professionally in local restaurants.[8] Krall won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied from 1981 to 1983,[9] before going to Los Angeles to play jazz. She returned to Canada to release her first album in 1993.[10]
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 paired with Tony Bennett for a 20-city tour. They paired again for a song on the TV series Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel provided the background for the album When I Look In Your Eyes (1999). 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 title track from the album, a cover of the Casino Royale standard popularized in the late 1960s by Dusty Springfield and Sérgio 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. 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".
The 2001 movie "The Score" (US and Germany), starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, featured a recording of Krall's entitled: "I'll Make It Up As I Go." This song accompanies the film's ending credits (chapter 12) and was composed by fellow Canadian, David Foster.[11]
After marrying Costello, Krall worked with him as a lyricist and began 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 for the song "You Don't Know Me."
In late May 2007, Krall was featured in a Lexus ad campaign.[12] That year she also sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with piano accompaniment by pianist Hank Jones.
Quiet Nights was released on March 31, 2009.
Krall produced Barbra Streisand's album Love Is the Answer, released on September 29, 2009.[13]
In 2011, Krall went on a private retreat to Sri Lanka. In September 2012, she accompanied Paul McCartney at Capitol Studios in a live performance of his album Kisses on the Bottom, which was shown live on the internet. On September 13, 2012, Krall performed "Fly Me to the Moon" at astronaut Neil Armstrong's memorial service in Washington, D.C.
Glad Rag Doll was released on October 2, 2012. Wallflower is her 12th studio album, released on February 3, 2015 by Verve Records.[14] The album was produced by David Foster.[15] Among the composers Krall and Foster tackled were the Eagles (two songs), Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"), 10cc ("I'm Not in Love"), Neil Finn ("Don't Dream It's Over"), and Gilbert O'Sullivan ("Alone Again (Naturally)"). The title track is from Bob Dylan's "Bootleg Series." And Paul McCartney gave her his blessing to record a previously unreleased original he'd written for his own jazz-flavored Kisses on the Bottom.[16]
On May 5, 2017, Krall released her thirteenth album, Turn Up the Quiet, through Verve Records. The album was produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma.[17] The album won a Juno Award as vocal jazz album of the year in 2018.[18]
On September 14, 2018, a joint album between Krall and Tony Bennett, Love Is Here to Stay, was released.[19] The album features the song "Fascinating Rhythm," originally recorded by Bennett in 1949, which earned him a Guinness World Record for the "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist" — 68 years and 342 days.[20]
Personal life
Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003, at Elton John's estate outside London.[21] Their twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006, in New York City.[22]
Krall's mother died of multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of the deaths of Krall's mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney.
Honours
National honours
- Officer of the Order of Canada – 2005[23]
Provincial and territorial honours
- Member of the Order of British Columbia – 2000[24]
Honorary doctorates
- Honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria.[25]
Other awards and recognitions
- Induction into Canada's Walk of Fame – 2004[26]
- Nanaimo Harbourfront Plaza was renamed Diana Krall Plaza.[27] – 2008
- Honorary Board Member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation[28]
- Steinway & Sons Artist, performing exclusively with Steinway pianos in recording sessions, concerts, and public appearances
Discography
- Stepping Out (1993)
- Only Trust Your Heart (1995)
- All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio (1996)
- Love Scenes (1997)
- When I Look in Your Eyes (1999)
- The Look of Love (2001)
- Live in Paris (2002)
- The Girl in the Other Room (2004)
- Christmas Songs (2005)
- From This Moment On (2006)
- Quiet Nights (2009)
- Glad Rag Doll (2012)
- Wallflower (2015)
- Turn Up the Quiet (2017)
- Love Is Here to Stay with Tony Bennett (2018)
- This Dream of You (2020)[29]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | At First Sight | Singer | Sings "Mack The Knife" |
1997–1998 | Melrose Place | Herself | "A Shot in the Dark" (Season 6, Episode 8, uncredited) "Ball N' Jane" (Season 7, Episode 4) |
2001 | Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton | Herself[30] | Documentary |
2003 | Anything Else | Herself | Sings "It Could Happen to You" |
2003 | De-Lovely | Musical Performer | Sings "Just One of Those Things" |
2005 | Mississippi Rising | Herself | TV documentary |
2008–2009 | Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... | Herself | "Tony Bennett" (Season 1, Episode 5) "Diana Krall Interviewed by Elton John" (Season 1, Episode 12) |
2009 | Public Enemies | Torch Singer | Sings "Bye Bye Blackbird" |
2017-2019 | Pete the Cat | Pete's Mom (voice) | Season 1 only (replaced by KT Tunstall) |
Awards
See also
- Wallflower World Tour (2016)
References
- "Music review: Diana Krall". Barnes & Noble. September 18, 2001. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- "Best of the 2000s – Artists of the Decade" positions 51–60, Billboard.
- Kyle Smith, "Look of Love", People (Archive), March 31, 2003, Vol. 59, No. 12.
- "Krall, Diana", in Elizabeth Lumley (ed.), The Canadian Who's Who, Volume 43, University of Toronto Press, 2008, p. 710.
- "Diana Krall Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Diana Krall". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
- "Diana Krall Biography". biography.com. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "Diana Krall Interviewed by Elton John". Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... February 18, 2009. Channel 4 (UK), CTV (Canada).
- "Diana Krall – Biography". HELLO! Canada. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "Diana Krall Biography". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "In Step With: Diana Krall". Parade Magazine. April 25, 2004.
- DVD (ending Credits), Universum Film GmbH & Co. KG., Constantin Films and BMG Video, Germany, 2005
- Lexus commercial on YouTube
- Caulfield, Keith (October 17, 2009). "Streisand Leads A Record Eight Debuts In Top 10". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 121 (41): 36. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Diana Krall's 'Wallflower': REVIEW". NY Daily News.
- "First Listen: Diana Krall, 'Wallflower'". NPR.org. January 25, 2015.
- Masley, Ed (August 17, 2015). "Interview: Diana Krall on the making of 'Wallflower'". Retrieved August 18, 2015.
- Gardner, Elysa. "Diana Krall on Handling Grief, and 'Finding Romance in Everything'". New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
- "Junos 2018: the complete list of winners". CBC News, · March 25, 2018
- Hart, Ron. "Tony Bennett & Diana Krall on Gershwin Duets Album 'Love Is Here to Stay' & Their Mutual Admiration". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
- Bruner, Raisa. "Tony Bennett Just Locked Down a Very Obscure Guinness Record". Time. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
- Susman, Gary (December 10, 2003). "Get Happy Elvis Costello marries Diana Krall. The singers wed in at Elton John's castle in England on Saturday". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- "Costello and Krall have twin boys". BBC News Online. December 9, 2006. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
- "Order of Canada". Archive.gg.ca. April 30, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- orderbceditor (January 15, 2009). "2000 Recipient: Diana Krall | Order of BC". Orderofbc.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- "University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Media releases". Communications.uvic.ca. November 3, 2003. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- "Canada's Walk of Fame celebrating Inductee Diana Krall". Canadaswalkoffame.com. November 16, 1964. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- "Nanaimo Harbourfront Plaza Renamed". Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- "Honorary Board". Themmrf.org. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- Newey, Jon (August 14, 2020). "Diana Krall does Dylan and Duke on classy new album (plus, listen to an exclusive track)". Jazzwise. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- Cast list for Jazz Seen at IMDb
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diana Krall. |
- Official website
- Diana Krall at IMDb
- Diana Krall at Billboard.com
- Gioia, Ted (February 13, 2008). "The State of Jazz Vocals Today". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2008.
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Jann Arden |
Juno Award for Artist of the Year 2002 |
Succeeded by Shania Twain |