November 16: Canadian jazz pianist Diana Krall is 49-years-old today.

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Vocalist and jazz pianist Diana Jean Krall (OC, OBC), was born on November 16, 1964 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

Her father played piano around the house and her mother sang in a community choir. She was playing piano herself at the age of four and playing jazz in a local restaurant at 15. She went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship before heading out to L.A. to play jazz. She returned to Canada to release her first album in 1993.

Krall, who is married to Elvis Costello, has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s.

On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second Jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time. She is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debuting at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums.

To date, she has won three Grammy Awards and eight Juno Awards.

In 1993, Krall released her first album, Stepping Out, which she recorded with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton. It caught the attention of producer Tommy LiPuma, who produced her second album, Only Trust Your Heart released in 1995.

Her third album, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio released in 1996, was nominated for a Grammy and continued for 70 weeks in the Billboard jazz charts. "Love Scenes" quickly became a hit record with the trio of Krall, Russell Malone on guitar and Christian McBride on bass.

In August 2000, Krall and Tony Bennett embarked on a 20-city tour. They were paired again for a song on the TV series Spectacle: "Elvis Costello with..."

In September 2001, Krall began a world tour. Her concert at the Paris Olympia was recorded and released as her first live record, Diana Krall - Live in Paris. The album included covers of Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are," and Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You."

After marrying Elvis Costello, she worked with him as a lyricist and started to compose her own songs, resulting in the album The Girl in the Other Room. The album, released in April 2004, quickly rose to the top five in the United Kingdom and made the Australian top 40 album charts.

She also joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company album in 2004 on the song, "You Don't Know Me." Her latest album, Quiet Nights, was released in March 2009.

Krall also produced Barbra Streisand's album Love Is the Answer, released on 29 Sep 2009.

Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003 at Elton John's estate outside London. The couple had twins in December 2006.  

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

In 2000, Diana was awarded the Order of British Columbia (OBC). In 2003 she was given an honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria, and in 2004, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2005, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC).

She is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Diana worked on Kisses on the Bottom, the latest album from Paul McCartney, which revisits some old American jazz standards with the help of Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.  On the album, Paul sings jazz and does not touch any instrument, Stevie Wonder and Diana do not sing and he plays the harmonica while she plays piano.
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For more about Diana, visit her Website at-

http://www.dianakrall.com/

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