JEWEL
Jewel (born Jewel Kilcher; May 23, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress, and author/poet. She has received four Grammy Award nominations and, as of 2008, has sold over 27 million albums worldwide. Jewel’s debut album, Pieces of You, released on February 28, 1995, became one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, going 15 times platinum. (More from Wikipedia)
Without question, Patrick Leonard is the most prominent ex-bandmember of Trillion and is primarily known as a keyboard player, producer and songwriter in the early part of Madonna’s career. He also produced the second album by Jewel, Spirit (1998). Leonard also co-wrote the song “Hands” from this album; although it was not released as a single, the music video for the song – which shows Jewel helping to pick through the rubble of a destroyed apartment building – gained wide exposure in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy.
(October 2012)
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What I remember most fondly about the 1990’s is the bumper crop of fine female singer-songwriters and rockers: Joan Osborne, Fiona Apple, Lisa Loeb, Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Paula Cole, and just too many more to name. There was even a series of three music festivals beginning in 1997 that were spearheaded by Sarah McLachlan, called Lilith Fair. But the growing feeling that rock music was beginning to get scarce was only enhanced when I picked up the nearly rock-less two-disc CD, Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music in 1998.
(January 2013)
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Melissa Etheridge rose to rock stardom in the 1980’s and was one of the first prominent lesbians in any field of entertainment. Also, VH1 had a series of Duets programs where Etheridge was paired with newer female singers, including Joan Osborne, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jewel and Paula Cole. Each of these performers has had a solid career with several hit albums. After awhile, so many fine female performers were on the music scene that one of them, Sarah McLachlan organized a touring music festival featuring female singers or female-led bands called Lilith Fair. The festival ran from 1997 to 1999 and was revived in 2010.
(October 2013)
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One of the hallmarks of the bandmembers in early punk rock bands is picking new names for themselves. Not everyone did that, and most musicians perform under their own names. For the record, as best I can tell, Frank Zappa, Fats Domino, Major Lance, Kris Kristofferson, and Stonewall Jackson are using their real names (with Fats being a nickname, though Major and Stonewall are not). Grace Slick is her married name; she was born Grace Wing. Most though not all of the one-name performers are also using one of their real names, with slight spelling changes and anglicizing here and there: Madonna, Prince, Jewel, Cher, Björk, Enya, Beck, Donovan, Morrissey, Liberace, Sade, Seal, Shakira, Rihanna, Adele, Dido, Melanie, Beyoncé, etc.
(March 2017)
