Monday, May 25, 2026
Diana Krall (1964-)
Diana Jean Krall OC OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals.[1] She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the U.S. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second-greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
Krall is the only jazz singer to have had eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.[2] She has won two Grammy Awards[3] and eight Juno Awards. She has also earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multi-platinum albums.
Early years
Krall was born on November 16, 1964, in Nanaimo, British Columbia, the daughter of Adella A. (née Wende), an elementary school teacher, and Stephen James "Jim" Krall, an accountant.[4][5][6] Krall's only sibling, Michelle, is a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Krall's father played piano at home, and her mother sang in a community choir. Krall began studying piano herself at the age of four[7] and took exams through The Royal Conservatory of Music.[8]
In high school, she was a member of a student jazz group; at 15, she began playing professionally in local restaurants.[9] Krall won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied from 1981 to 1983,[10] before spending time in Los Angeles to play jazz. She returned to Canada to record her first album in 1992.
She met veteran bassist Ray Brown in the early 1980s.[11] Impressed by her piano playing, he introduced Krall to other musicians and was an important mentor.
Career
Krall recorded her first album, Stepping Out, for Justin Time Records in 1992; the album was released in 1993. She was accompanied by bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. It caught the attention of producer Tommy LiPuma, who produced her second album, Only Trust Your Heart (1995).
Her third album, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio (1996), was nominated for a Grammy and continued for 70 weeks in the Billboard jazz charts. Love Scenes (1997) quickly became a hit record with the trio of Krall, Russell Malone (guitar), and Christian McBride (bass).
In August 2000, Krall partnered with Tony Bennett for a 20-city tour, and in 2008–09 they worked together again for a song on the TV series Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel provided the background for her fifth studio album When I Look in Your Eyes (1999), her first released through Verve Records. The band mix was kept, following arrangements on The Look of Love (2001) created by Claus Ogerman; this record achieved platinum status and reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The title track from the album, a cover of the Casino Royale standard popularized in the late 1960s by Dusty Springfield and Sérgio Mendes, reached number 22 on the adult contemporary chart.
In September 2001, Krall began a world tour. Her concert at the Paris Olympia was recorded and released in 2002 as her first live record, Live in Paris (issued with a different European title, A Night In Paris). The album included covers of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" (a hit on U.S. smooth jazz radio) and Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You", and was also released as a video album.
The 2001 movie The Score (US and Germany), starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, featured a recording of Krall's titled "I'll Make It Up As I Go." This song accompanied the film's ending credits (chapter 12) and was composed by fellow Canadian David Foster.[12]
After marrying English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello in 2003, Krall worked with him as a lyricist and began to compose her own songs, resulting in the album The Girl in the Other Room. Released in April 2004, it quickly rose to the top five in the United Kingdom and made the Australian top 40 albums chart. She also joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company album in 2004 for the song "You Don't Know Me", and her 2004 performance at Bell Centre, Montreal on June 29 was released as her second live CD and DVD, Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival, released on November 23, 2004.[13][14][15]
In late May 2007, Krall was featured in a Lexus advertisement campaign.[16] That year she also sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with piano accompaniment by pianist Hank Jones for an "all-star" tribute album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song (2007) produced by Phil Ramone.
Quiet Nights, produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma, was released on March 31, 2009, and consisted of mainly bossa nova standards.
Krall produced Barbra Streisand's album Love Is the Answer, released on September 29, 2009.[17]
In 2011, Krall went on a private retreat to Sri Lanka. In September 2012, she accompanied Paul McCartney at Capitol Studios in a live performance of his album Kisses on the Bottom, which was shown live on the internet. On September 13, 2012, Krall performed "Fly Me to the Moon" at astronaut Neil Armstrong's memorial service in Washington, D.C.
Her 11th studio album, Glad Rag Doll, produced by T Bone Burnett, was released on October 2, 2012, and covered mainly jazz tunes from the 1920s and 1930s. Her next, Wallflower, released on February 3, 2015, by Verve Records[18] and produced by David Foster,[19] tackled more recent composers including the Eagles (two songs), Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"), 10cc ("I'm Not in Love"), Neil Finn ("Don't Dream It's Over"), and Gilbert O'Sullivan ("Alone Again (Naturally)"). The album's title song is from Bob Dylan's "Bootleg Series", and Paul McCartney gave her his blessing to include "I'll Take You Home Tonight", a previously unreleased original song he had written for his own Kisses on the Bottom album.[20]
On May 5, 2017, Krall released her thirteenth album, Turn Up the Quiet, produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma again.[21] The album won a Juno Award as vocal jazz album of the year in 2018.[22]
On September 14, 2018, a joint album between Krall and Tony Bennett, Love Is Here to Stay, was released.[23] The album features the song "Fascinating Rhythm", originally recorded by Bennett in 1949, which earned him a Guinness World Record for the "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist" — 68 years and 342 days.[24]
September 2020 brought the release of her sixteenth studio album, This Dream of You, named after Krall's rendition of the Bob Dylan song from his 2009 album Together Through Life.[25] The album's dozen tracks were selected from over 30 unused recordings previously laid down by Krall with her longtime producer Tommy LiPuma before his death in 2017.[26] The album was completed in May 2020 with production finished by Krall herself,[27] and included the jazz standard "Autumn in New York" for which a video was created to raise awareness for New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City founded in 1987.[28]
Krall's companions on her 2024 tour were Sebastian Steinberg and Matt Chamberlain.
Personal life
Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003, at Elton John's estate outside London.[29] Their twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006, in New York City.[30] Krall's father-in-law was the singer Ross MacManus.[31]
Krall's mother died of multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of the deaths of Krall's mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney.
Honours
Canadian honours
National honours
Officer of the Order of Canada – 2005[32]
Provincial and territorial honours
Member of the Order of British Columbia – 2000[33]
Honorary doctorates
- Honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria[34]
Other awards and recognitions
- Induction into Canada's Walk of Fame – 2004[35]
- Nanaimo Harbourfront Plaza was renamed Diana Krall Plaza – 2008[36]
- Honorary Board Member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation[37]
- Steinway & Sons Artist, performing exclusively with Steinway pianos in recording sessions, concerts, and public appearances
Discography
- Stepping Out (1993)
- Only Trust Your Heart (1995)
- All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio (1996)
- Love Scenes (1997)
- When I Look in Your Eyes (1999)
- The Look of Love (2001)
- Live in Paris (2002) (aka A Night in Paris)
- The Girl in the Other Room (2004)
- Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival (2004)
- Christmas Songs (2005)
- From This Moment On (2006)
- Quiet Nights (2009)
- Glad Rag Doll (2012)
- Wallflower (2015)
- Turn Up the Quiet (2017)
- Love Is Here to Stay with Tony Bennett (2018)
- This Dream of You (2020)
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | At First Sight | Singer | Sings "Mack the Knife" |
| 1997–1998 | Melrose Place | Herself | "A Shot in the Dark" (Season 6, Episode 8, uncredited) "Ball N' Jane" (Season 7, Episode 4) |
| 2001 | Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton | Herself | Documentary |
| 2003 | Anything Else | Herself | Sings "It Could Happen to You" |
| 2003 | De-Lovely | Musical Performer | Sings "Just One of Those Things" |
| 2005 | Mississippi Rising | Herself | TV documentary |
| 2008–2009 | Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... | Herself | "Tony Bennett" (Season 1, Episode 5) "Diana Krall Interviewed by Elton John" (Season 1, Episode 12) |
| 2009 | Public Enemies | Torch Singer | Sings "Bye Bye Blackbird" |
| 2017–2019 | Pete the Cat | Pete's Mom (voice) | Season 1 only (replaced by KT Tunstall)[38] |
Awards
Noel Harrison (1934-2013)
Noel John Christopher Harrison (29 January 1934 – 19 October 2013) was an English actor and singer. In the 1950s, he was a member of the British Olympic skiing team. In 1968, Harrison had a top-10 hit in the UK Singles Chart with "The Windmills of Your Mind". He was the son of actor Rex Harrison.
Early life
Harrison was born on 29 January 1934 in Kensington, London.[1] His mother, Ethel Margery Noel Collette-Thomas, was the first of Rex Harrison's six wives; they divorced in 1942. Ethel and her cousin Richard Michael Collette Thomas (later a lieutenant-colonel killed in action in 1944, in France) were brought up together by their grandparents, Major John Cyril Collette-Thomas and Jessie Maud Scott-Brown, in Bude, North Cornwall. As a child, he attended Sunningdale School, where his father had also been a pupil.[2] When he was 15, Ethel took young Noel out of school at Radley to live in the Swiss Alps.
Harrison never returned to school and began ski-racing.[3] He joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar, but his main interest and most of his spare time was spent skiing. At an early age, he was a member of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953, and representing Great Britain at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, and at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.[4]
Harrison undertook National Service and, after leaving the army in the 1950s, toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist, but instead, concentrated on his guitar. His early break came when he took a regular part in the BBC Television programme Tonight, as part of a team who sang the day's news in a calypso style.
When Harrison was 20, he started playing professionally, around the tables in a Greek restaurant in London. He also made a living playing in bars and nightclubs all over Europe, including appearances at the Blue Angel nightclub in Mayfair, London, where one show was recorded for a live album.[citation needed]
Move to the United States
After appearing in small roles in British films such as The Best of Enemies (1961), Hot Enough for June (1964) and Where the Spies Are (1965) Harrison left for the United States in 1965, working as a nightclub entertainer at such venues as the Hungry I in San Francisco, and at the Persian Room in New York City. Thanks to his managers Bob Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, who went on to produce the Rocky films, he had a record reach the charts. The track was "A Young Girl", written by Charles Aznavour. In the 1966–67 television season he appeared as Mark Slate in 29 episodes of the NBC series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. as the costar of Stefanie Powers (April Dancer).[1] A year earlier, Norman Fell originated his Mark Slate character on the original U.N.C.L.E. series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in a second-season episode titled "The Galatea Affair". In 1968, Harrison appeared on an episode of To Tell the Truth in which the panel had to figure out which of three women was Harrison's then-wife Sara.
"Young Girl" was included as one of the tracks on Harrison's debut album, Noel Harrison, in 1966. Two years later, he recorded "The Windmills of Your Mind", the theme tune from the film The Thomas Crown Affair,[1] which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1968, and was also a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart.[5] Despite the song winning the 1968 Oscar for best original song, Harrison did not sing it at the ceremony. Instead his place was taken by Jose Feliciano. The change was made because he was working on the film, Take A Girl Like You in England, with Oliver Reed and Hayley Mills. Coincidentally, his father had sung the Oscar-winning song ("Talk to the Animals") only the previous year (1967).[5]
The television series, plus the Top 40 record, landed Harrison a recording contract with Reprise, who released three of his albums, Collage, Santa Monica Pier and The Great Electric Experiment Is Over.[1] Collage reached #135 in the United States Billboard 200 chart.[6] He also toured with the Beach Boys, and Sonny and Cher, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, featured on a music program, Hullabaloo and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
In 1968, Harrison played the male lead in The Fantasticks, in touring theatres in the round, including the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts.[citation needed] In 1970, he played the male lead role in "Blithe Spirit" at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA and returned in 1983 for the lead male role in "The Housekeeper".
Move to Canada
In 1972, Harrison left the United States for Nova Scotia,[1] settling in rural Mount Hanley. He bought a farmhouse with 320 acres of farmland, and from there he commuted to Halifax where he hosted a show called Take Time for CBC Television.[1] In winter 1974, the wood stove caught fire and his house burned down, inspiring him to write the humorous song, "The Middleton Fire Brigade", which appeared on his 1979 album Mount Hanley Song.[7] He subsequently built a new house from scratch with no electricity, inspired by the fashionable pioneers Helen and Scott Nearing and their self-help bible, Living the Good Life.
Touring shows
During the 1970s, Harrison toured the United States in productions of Camelot and The Sound of Music. He also played Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, the part first performed by his father in the musical's original stage production and film version. Other touring roles included King Arthur in Camelot, Baron von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, Brian Runicles in No Sex Please, We're British and Lloyd Dallas in Noises Off.[1]
He later began acting again, appearing in the cinema films Power, and Déjà Vu. An admirer of Jacques Brel, Harrison created a one-man musical, Adieu, Jacques, and in 2002 released an album of songs from the show.
Return to the United Kingdom
In 2004, Harrison returned to the United Kingdom, relocating his home to the county of Devon. He continued to sing, appearing in occasional concerts to finance the recording and release of his self-produced albums, such as Hold Back Time. A compilation album of his work titled Life Is a Dream was released by the American 'Reprise' record label in 2003, and his debut album, Noel Harrison, was re-released in 2008. In 2010, he recorded a new album, From the Sublime to the Ridiculous!. The record was made as part of the Internet event, The RPM Challenge, which challenged musicians to record a new album from scratch during the month of February.
In June 2011, Harrison played Glastonbury Festival's "Spirit of '71" stage, marking 40 years since his appearance at the second staging of the festival. The performance was televised by the British Broadcasting Corporation, including a backstage acoustic version of the song "The Windmills of Your Mind".[citation needed]
Personal life
Harrison was married three times. In 1959, he married Sara Lee Eberts Tufnell, with whom he had three children: Cathryn, Simon, and Harriet. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1969. His second marriage was in 1972 to Margaret Benson. The couple had two children, Chloe and Will, and later divorced in 1989. Harrison's final marriage was in 1991 to Lori Chapman, to whom he remained married until his death in 2013.[8][9]
Harrison died in hospital after suffering a heart attack at his Devon home, several hours after performing a concert locally on the evening of 19 October 2013.[8][9][10]
Discography
Albums
- Noel Harrison at the Blue Angel (1960)
- Noel Harrison at UnMusic (1960)
- Noel Harrison (1966)
- Collage (1967)
- Santa Monica Pier (1968)
- The Great Electric Experiment Is Over (1969) Produced by Peter Pilalfian and arranged by Luiz Henrique Rosa
- The World of Noel Harrison (1969 — compilation)
- Mount Hanley Song (1979)
- Live From Boulevard Music (2002 — live album recorded in the United States)
- Adieu, Jacques (2002 — music from the show, sung in French)
- Hold Back Time (2003)
- Life Is a Dream (2003 compilation)
- From the Sublime to the Ridiculous (2010)[11]
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [12] | CAN [13] | US [14] | |||||||
| 1965 | "A Young Girl (Of Sixteen)" | — | 5 | 51 | Noel Harrison | ||||
| 1967 | "Suzanne" | — | — | 56 | Collage | ||||
| 1969 | "The Windmills of Your Mind" | 8 | — | — | The Thomas Crown Affair (soundtrack) | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Best of Enemies | Lt. Hilary | |
| 1964 | Hot Enough for June | Johnnie | |
| 1965 | The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders | Second Mohock | |
| 1966 | Where the Spies Are | Jackson | |
| 1968 | To Tell the Truth | Himself | |
| 1970 | Take a Girl Like You | Julian Ormerod | |
| 1986 | Power | Leonard Thompson | |
| 1997 | Déjà Vu | John Stoner | |
| 1999 | The Murder in China Basin | George Guest | (final film role) |