Diana Krall

Biography

Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. 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. She has won two Grammy Awards 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. 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 and took exams through The Royal Conservatory of Music.
In high school, she was a member of a student jazz group; at 15, she began playing professionally in local restaurants. Krall won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied from 1981 to 1983, 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. Impressed by her piano playing, he introduced Krall to other musicians and was an important mentor.

Career

Krall recorded her first album, Stepping Out×Stepping Out10 August 1993 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1This Can't Be Love4:302Straighten Up and Fly Right3:543Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea4:014I'm Just a Lucky So and So4:195Body and Soul5:34642nd Street6:167Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me4:268Big Foot7:039Frim Fram Sauce4:0610Jimmie5:1911As Long as I Live4:41, 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×Only Trust Your Heart14 February 1995 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby4:582Only Trust Your Heart5:203I Love Being Here With You3:404Broadway7:275Folks Who Live on the Hill4:196I've Got the World on a String5:207Squeeze Me5:388All Night Long6:429CRS Craft3:31 (1995).
Her third album, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio×All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio12 March 1996 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1I’m an Errand Girl for Rhythm2:562Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You4:073You Call It Madness4:374Frim Fram Sauce5:015Boulevard of Broken Dreams6:276Baby Baby All the Time3:367Hit That Jive Jack4:178You’re Looking at Me5:339I’m Thru With Love4:2610Deed I Do3:3211A Blossom Fell5:1312If I Had You4:5713When I Grow Too Old to Dream4:34 (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×When I Look in Your Eyes21 May 1999 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Let's Face the Music and Dance5:182Devil May Care3:203Let's Fall in Love4:194When I Look in Your Eyes4:325Popsicle Toes4:286I've Got You Under My Skin6:117I Can't Give You Anything but Love2:338I'll String Along With You4:459East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)4:5710Pick Yourself Up3:0211The Best Thing for You2:3712Do It Again4:4513Why Should I Care3:46 (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 and was composed by fellow Canadian David Foster.
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×The Girl in the Other Room31 March 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Stop This World3:592The Girl in the Other Room4:053Temptation4:284Almost Blue4:055I’ve Changed My Address4:486Love Me Like a Man5:497I’m Pulling Through4:038Black Crow4:499Narrow Daylight3:3210Abandoned Masquerade5:1111I’m Coming Through5:0812Departure Bay5:40. Released in April 2004, it quickly rose to the top five in the United Kingdom and peaked at 21st in Australia's 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.
In late May 2007, Krall was featured in a Lexus advertisement campaign. 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.
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×Glad Rag Doll28 September 2012 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye3:072There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth the Salt of My Tears4:303Just Like a Butterfly That’s Caught in the Rain3:434You Know – I Know Ev’rything’s Made for Love3:475Glad Rag Doll4:346I’m a Little Mixed Up4:377Prairie Lullaby4:228Here Lies Love5:099I Used to Love You but It’s All Over Now2:5010Let It Rain5:4411Lonely Avenue6:5712Wide River to Cross3:5113When the Curtain Comes Down4:52, 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 and produced by David Foster, 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.
On May 5, 2017, Krall released her thirteenth album, Turn Up the Quiet×Turn Up the Quiet3 May 2017 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Like Someone in Love3:172Isn’t It Romantic4:283L‐O‐V‐E4:214Night and Day4:385I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)3:246Moonglow5:157Blue Skies4:388Sway6:129No Moon at All4:0610Dream4:0311I’ll See You in My Dreams3:54, produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma again. The album won a Juno Award as vocal jazz album of the year in 2018.
On September 14, 2018, a joint album between Krall and Tony Bennett, Love Is Here to Stay, was released. 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.
September 2020 brought the release of her sixteenth studio album, This Dream of You×This Dream of You25 September 2020 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1But Beautiful4:502That's All / Azure-Te4:053Autumn in New York5:194Almost Like Being in Love3:405More Than You Know3:576Just You, Just Me2:257There's No You4:488Don’t Smoke in Bed3:189This Dream of You7:0210I Wished on the Moon2:3811How Deep Is the Ocean5:1812Singing in the Rain3:28, named after Krall's rendition of the Bob Dylan song from his 2009 album Together Through Life. 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. The album was completed in May 2020 with production finished by Krall herself, 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.
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. Their twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006, in New York City. Krall's father-in-law was the singer Ross MacManus.
Krall's mother died of multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of the deaths of Krall's mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney.

Provincial and territorial honours

Member of the Order of British Columbia – 2000

Honorary doctorates

Honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria

Other awards and recognitions

Induction into Canada's Walk of Fame – 2004
Nanaimo Harbourfront Plaza was renamed Diana Krall Plaza – 2008
Honorary Board Member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Steinway & Sons Artist, performing exclusively with Steinway pianos in recording sessions, concerts, and public appearances