Jewel Finds Success At 24
Singer-songwriter Jewel dropped by CBS This Morning to sing "Hands," the current release from her new album, Spirit.
Spirit is Jewel's first new album since her 1995 debut, Pieces of You. The album features 13 new songs, some acoustic folk ballads and others more in the pop vein. All of them are written by Jewel, with the exception of the first single, "Hands," which was co-written with producer Patrick Leonard. 
When Spirit was released on Nov. 17, it was up against some big name stars. Spirit reached No. 3 in its first week, beating out competition including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. "It was a big surprise," she told CBS This Morning in early December. "I didn't even think I was in the same category. I've always been a big fan of theirs, so it was a surprise."
Despite her success and her age, 24, she seems to have a handle on it. "The first record took four years to become big, and over those four years, I got to really get comfortable with my position and with the idea that I might be popular. I realized that on such a simple folk record like my first one, it was sincerity that was selling me, and it wasn't image or short skirts or anything but what was on the record. It made me feel really comfortable with my second record and I knew that as long as I was myself and I spoke to people that that was my job and the rest was up to timing."
Jewel downplays her effect on her audience.
"I don't want to kid myself. I don't think I change people's lives," she says. "I think you help somebody get through their day better, and help people keep hope and faith. It helps me being up there [on stage] as much as anything."
Not that she doesn't know that she is a best-selling artist. Her first album, Pieces of You (1996), sold 10 million copies worldwide.
Have her goals changed? "Not really," she says. "I've exceeded any goal I have ever set for myselfÂ… I don't know what else there is to conquer, except to see how else I can make myself available to help."
Jewel's full name is Jewel Kilcher. She was born in Utah, but was reared in a remote town in Alaska, without television, telephone, or indoor plumbing. Her parents were musicians, and she began performing with them when she was 6 years old. Back then, her yodeling was the most popular part of the act.
Her parents divorced when she was 8, and Jewel continued to perform with her father, Atz, and lived with him until she was 17. (She also lived for a couple of years with an aunt in Hawaii.)
Jewel, who has dyslexia, was educated partly at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. After graduation, she moved to San Diego, where she wound up living in a camper, surviving mainly on carrots and peanut butter. Jewel says her primary posessions were a backpack, a surfboard, and a mattress.