Never Broken

When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were ... (more)

When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. Drawing comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with more than thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life, and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age five, and joined her parents' entertainment act, working in hotels, honky-tonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed family life with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, however, there was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen, she moved out and tasked herself with a mission: to see if she could avoid being the kind of statistic that her past indicated for her future. Soon after, she was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and there she began writing her own songs as a means of expressing herself and documenting her journey to find happiness. Jewel was eighteen and homeless in San Diego when a radio DJ aired a bootleg version of one of her songs and it was requested into the top-ten countdown, something unheard-of for an unsigned artist. By the time she was twenty-one, her debut had gone multiplatinum. There is much more to Jewel's story, though, one complicated by family legacies, by crippling fear and insecurity, and by the extraordinary circumstances in which she managed to flourish and find happiness despite these obstacles. Along her road of self-discovery, learning to redirect her fate, Jewel has become an iconic singer and songwriter. In Never Broken she reflects on how she survived, and how writing songs, poetry, and prose has saved her life many times over. She writes lyrically about the natural wonders of Alaska, about pain and loss, about the healing power of motherhood, and about discovering her own identity years after the entire world had discovered the beauty of her songs. (less)

The singer and songwriter explores her struggles with abuse at the hands of unconventional and highly creative family me... (more)

The singer and songwriter explores her struggles with abuse at the hands of unconventional and highly creative family members in Alaska before rising to unexpected fame and becoming a parent. (less)

When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were ... (more)

When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. In the tradition of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell (she has been compared to both), a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with over thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age three and joined her parents' act, working in hotels, honkytonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed and independent family life, with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen Jewel was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen School in Michigan, where she began writing her own songs as a means of expression. She was eighteen, homeless, and living out of her car in San Diego when a radio DJ aired a bootleg version of her song, and it was requested into the top-ten countdown, something unheard of for an unsigned artist. By age twenty-one, her debut album went multi-platinum.There is so much more to Jewel's story, one complicated by family and financial woes, by crippling fear and insecurity, by parents who forced a child to grow up far too quickly, and by the extraordinary circumstances in which she become a world-famous singer and songwriter. Here Jewel reflects on how she survived and how writing songs, poetry, and prose have saved her life many times over. She writes beautifully about the natural wonders of Alaska, about pain and childhood trauma, and about discovering her own identity years after the entire world had discovered the beauty of her songs. (less)

When Jewel's first album, 'Pieces of You', topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance wer... (more)

When Jewel's first album, 'Pieces of You', topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. In the tradition of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell (she has been compared to both), a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with over thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. (less)