Jewel

What do you do for an encore after selling 20 million albums, writing one of the best-selling books of poetry ever, starring in a film by acclaimed director Ang Lee and becoming an international celebrity?

For Jewel, the answer was easy, if not risky in this era of fleeting attention spans and fickle fans.

"I took two years off, and decided I wasn`t going to do anything in music that I didn`t want to do," said the local singer-songwriter, who recently completed her fourth album, "This Way," in Nashville.

"I like the craft of performing and songwriting so much," Jewel continued, speaking from the Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., home she shares with her mother and manager, Nedra Carroll.

"But I`m in this strange position of being a singer-songwriter in this massive pop medium, and the most important thing is maintaining my authenticity. So I decided to make a record I liked and believed in, and not pay attention to radio or trends. And if it hits, it hits."

And if it doesn`t?

"The music business has really become similar to the movie business, in that it`s all about the opening week (of sales)," she said. "But all of that is buying into a mythology, and I just decided not to believe in any of it anymore. I`m oddly about as ignorant about pop culture as I ever have been. I don`t tend to listen to the radio; I just write little songs and go about things in my own way.

"And I`m looking at it more as a career; it`s just my fourth record and there will be more. So I took a lot of the pressure off myself. ... It`s important not to get stuck in that game of outdoing yourself."

Commercially speaking, trying to outdo herself would be a foolish game for Jewel.

Her 1995 debut album, "Pieces of You," has sold 13.5 million copies. Her 1998 sophomore effort, "Spirit" (5.5 million copies sold), and her 1999 Christmas release, "Joy: a Holiday Collection" (2 million copies), were also successful, as was her first book, 1997`s "a night without armor," - which with 800,000 in sales is one of the most popular poetry books ever. It also inspired the parody "a night without armor II: the revenge," by New York slam poet Beau Sia.

"I thought it was really cool," Jewel said of Sia`s satirical book. "I met that guy. Actually, he was really nice. I knew my poetry was something relevant that would speak to kids. That`s why I included a lot of my really early poetry, so kids could watch my progress develop. Doing that encouraged so many kids to start writing and keep a certain self-awareness through their lives."

Her first album yielded three Top 10 singles, "You Were Meant for Me," "Who Will Save Your Soul?" and "Foolish Games," the last of which was featured in the soundtrack for the film "Batman and Robin." The videos for those songs made her a staple on MTV and VH1, and she was subsequently featured on the covers of such publications as Time and Rolling Stone. Jewel also did network TV, appearing with the likes of Leno and Letterman, and in January 1997 she performed at two inaugural balls at the behest of President Clinton.

Later that same month, she won Favorite New Pop/Rock Artist honors at the 24th annual American Music Awards. A month later, she joined comedian Mike Myers to present an award during the Grammys telecast, where she was a double nominee.

"It`s funny how it hit my little brother, Atz Lee, that I was famous," Jewel said, reflecting on her ascent from struggling San Diego coffeehouse singer to top-selling folk-pop diva.

"For him it was the fact that I was featured in a magazine ad for a (mail-order) CD club. That made him go: `Holy cow! Now she`s famous.` I`d sold 8 million albums and been on a million magazine covers, but for him it was the CD club.

"For me, it was opening concerts for Bob Dylan and getting to sing `St. Louis Blues` with B.B. King on a TV show in England. That made me think: `What a weird, wonderful world I`m traveling in, that I get to rub shoulders with people like that.`"

A STAR IS BORN

Jewel, as is now well-known, grew up poor in Alaska and briefly lived in a van in San Diego after moving there in 1992. Landing a weekly gig at the Inner Change in Pacific Beach, she built up a loyal cult following.

She was signed by Atlantic Records in 1994, and she recorded most of her debut album live at the Inner Change. She toured relentlessly, opening shows for artists as varied as Jeff Buckley, the Ramones and Goth-rock icon Peter Murphy. Blessed with a batch of simple yet effective songs, a strong voice and an even stronger work ethic, she toiled to promote an album that wasn`t expected to sell more than a few hundred thousand copies.

But her rise brought intense media attention, which had much to do with being an attractive young woman who combined star power with a refreshingly un-starlike attitude. Soon more scrutiny was given to whom she was dating (Sean Penn!) and what she was wearing (that see-through dress at the 1997 Grammys!) than to her work.

"I remember talking with Steve Poltz about this a long time ago," Jewel said, referring to her musical mentor and erstwhile band member and songwriting partner.

"We were both kind of locally famous, and both had record deals, and people started treating us different. I wasn`t famous like I am now, but it was the first phase of things changing. And Steve said: `You`re not changing; everybody`s perception of you is changing.` And that`s how it feels.

"You find yourself constantly adjusting to how people think of you. That`s where the real adjustment comes from. You react to the fairy tale because people react to the myth, because they`re not able to know you, which is only natural."

Invoking an interview conducted with her pal since 1997, techno star Moby, for a book about Jewel, she said: "For him, fame was like an accident of doing something he really liked doing vs. going out to get fame and using music as a vehicle to get it. It`s been that way for me, too.

"It`s very surprising, humbling and flattering, and also kind of scary. Fame is definitely a strange thing to deal with. Now I sort of feel a lot more at peace with it. Luckily, I haven`t been in the gossip columns too much, just because I`m such a hermit. I`m not the most-talked-about artist in the world, which suits me fine."

Jewel`s public image is both glamorous and down-to-earth. But her confidantes are familiar with other facets of her personality.

"Before I knew her as a friend, my understanding was she was a delicate, retiring folk singer," said Moby, in a San Diego Union-Tribune interview last year. "As we became friends, I realized she was as far from a retiring folk singer as you can imagine. She`s got the bawdiest sense of humor you can imagine. She`s made me blush many times."

Jewel giggled when asked about keeping her bawdy tendencies under wraps.

"It`s not that I try purposely to keep it hidden, it`s just the nature of the beast," she said, adding, "You can never let your true personality shine (in public).

"Without knowing me well, or spending years to become a friend, attending my concerts is the best way to see a pretty full spectrum of me - the seriousness and the humor."

NASHVILLE SKYLINE

Jewel`s growing emotional spectrum should be evident on her new album (due out Nov. 13).

Recorded in Nashville, it was co-produced by Jewel and veteran studio guitarist Dann Huff, who also produced the latest Megadeth album and has worked with such acts as Madonna, Shania Twain, Bryan Ferry and Whitesnake.

The album features some of Nashville`s top country and Christian-music studio musicians, though Jewel stressed that "it doesn`t sound like a Nashville record. It is not a country album, at all."

She co-wrote some of the songs with tunesmith Rick Knowles, whose previous collaborators include Sinead O`Connor, Madonna and NSYNC. Another song, "Till We Run Out of Road," was co-written by Jewel and her boyfriend, seven-time world rodeo champion Ty Murray.

"It`s a very versatile album," she said. "I don`t know if people will say it`s really different or makes sense. There`s more rock `n` roll, two or three songs we recorded live, and some mellow ballads.

"If there`s something I wanted to avoid with this record, it was being at the mercy of a producer. Not that they aren`t super-talented, but I wanted my voice to shine through. I`ve always been a live musician, and my expertise is in how to work a crowd and communicate with an audience.

"So making records was really foreign to me; you`re singing (in the studio) for no one, which is really absurd. And I didn`t know how to get a good performance out of myself, vocally. I`m a lot more comfortable now, because I`m finally getting to the point where the craft of recording isn`t as foreign to me."

The big question, though, is how her new album will fare in a world now dominated by teen-pop and rap-metal. In this flavor-of-the-month musical climate, is there still room on the charts for an introspective singer-songwriter like Jewel?

"Record sales come and go, and I don`t hold myself up against that measure - that I`m only good if I sell X-amount of records," she replied. "I just hope to stay relevant as a writer, which means staying honest about where you are. And that`s hard, in that songwriters start losing touch with the social pulse.

"As an artist, my talent has never really been to be hip, in the sense of following trends. All I know how to do is what`s honest to me. It`s why I think my fans have connected with me. But I think I`ll always be curious musically, and try new things.

"I don`t want to look back on my music the way you look back on your photos in high school, when you had poufy hair. I want the music to sound honest and good in 20 years."

San Diego Union-Tribune Library researcher Beth Wood contributed to this article.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: George Varga