Early Years
Jewel was born in Payson, Utah. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Homer, Alaska, where her grandfather Yule Kilcher, a delegate to the Alaska State Constitutional Convention and a state senator, had settled after immigrating from Switzerland. Yule also made the first recorded crossing of the Harding Icefield. Jewel is the cousin of actress Q'orianka Kilcher. She spent most of her young life in Homer, living with her father, Atz Kilcher. The home she grew up in did not have indoor plumbing; it had a simple outhouse instead. The Kilcher family is featured on the Discovery Channel show Alaska: The Last Frontier, which chronicles their day to day struggles living in the Alaskan wilderness. Jewel and her father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences she learned to yodel, as demonstrated in many of her songs. Her father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before she turned eight.
Jewel learned to play the guitar while at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in operatic voice. She started writing songs at the age of 16. While at school, she would sometimes play at Ray's Coffee House in Traverse City, Michigan.
For a time, Jewel lived in her van while traveling around the country doing street performances and small gigs. She gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. Her friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns, played the same venues. Jewel later collaborated with Poltz on some of her songs, including "You Were Meant for Me" (he also appeared in the second, better-known video for this song). The Rugburns opened for Jewel on her Tiny Lights tour in 1997, and Poltz appeared in Jewel's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar.
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