Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, producer, actress, author, and poet. She has received four Grammy award nominations and, as of 2015, has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Jewel was raised in Homer, Alaska, where she grew up singing and yodeling as a duo with her father, a local musician. At age fifteen, she received a partial scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she studied operatic voice. See for more.