Jewel Kilcher was born in Utah in 1974, but was raised in Alaska, on the 800-acre family homestead that her grandfather, an immigrant from Switzerland, had originally settled. At the age of six, she began touring with her singer/songwriter parents, initially performing a yodeling routine. When her parents divorced, she continued to perform with her father, and eventually received a vocal scholarship to Interlochen Fine Arts Academy in Michigan, attending for her junior and senior years of high school.
Kilcher's mother introduced her to poetry at an early age, and she began writing poems when she was a child. She used her poetry as a way to express her feelings, particularly after her parents' divorce. Kilcher started setting her poems to music while at Interlochen, and upon graduating from high school, she moved to Santa Barbara, where her mother was living. She soon began performing her songs in coffee houses and other small venues around California. This practice eventually led to a recording contract with Atlantic Records and the release of her highly successful debut album, Pieces of You.
Jewel Kilcher's first book, a volume of her poetry called A Night Without Armor, was published in 1998. In 2000 she published a nonfiction collection of her essays and anecdotes about her time on the road called Chasing Down the Dawn.
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