Diana Krall: The Life Story Behind the Jazz Star

Diana Krall plays the piano and sings in a low, smooth voice, and she makes jazz sound both old and new at the same time. She sings the great standards, the songs written in the 1930s and 1940s, and she makes them feel as if they were written yesterday. Her albums have sold millions of copies, her concerts fill large halls, and she has won Grammy Awards and Juno Awards. She is one of the most successful jazz singers of her time, and she did it by staying true to a music that many people thought was only for a small audience.

She was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, grew up in a musical family, and learned piano as a child. She played in bars as a teenager, studied jazz in Boston, and moved to Los Angeles and then to New York to build her career. She recorded album after album, she worked with great musicians, and she married Elvis Costello, another famous songwriter. She has also faced loss, including the death of her mother, and she has kept singing through it all.

What makes her story so strong is the discipline behind it. She did not become a jazz star by luck. She practised for years, she studied the great singers and pianists, and she learned her craft in small rooms before she played the big ones. This is the story of a girl from a small Canadian city who became a world jazz star, and who kept her standards high through every change.

A Nanaimo Childhood of Piano and Family

Diana Jean Krall was born on 16 November 1964 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, a city on Vancouver Island. Her father, Stephen Krall, played piano, and her mother, Adella, sang in a church choir. Music was in the house from the start. Diana began piano lessons at the age of four, and she was soon playing with a natural ease. She listened to her father’s record collection, which included jazz, and she began to learn the songs of Fats Waller, Nat King Cole, and other great pianists.

As a child, she was a good student, and she loved to play. She took part in school music, she sang in the choir, and she began to play in local bands. She was not a loud child, but she was a determined one. She practised every day, she listened to records, and she tried to copy the great players she heard. Her parents supported her, and they encouraged her to keep learning. They did not push her to be a star. They pushed her to be a musician, and that was a better gift.

Nanaimo was a small city, with a strong community and a love of music. It gave her a sense of home, and it gave her a place to learn. She played in restaurants and in bars as a teenager, learning how to play for a crowd, how to sing while she played, and how to keep a set going for hours. Those early jobs were not glamorous, but they taught her the craft that would carry her through her whole career. A bar crowd is honest, and it teaches a young musician to listen, to adapt, and to keep going.

She also learned to love the piano as a solo instrument. She did not just play the melody. She played the harmony, the rhythm, and the bass, all at once, and she learned to make the piano sing. That skill, of playing and singing at the same time, became the heart of her style. She was not a singer who needed a band to carry her. She was a pianist who could sing, and a singer who could play, and that combination made her special.

Boston, Los Angeles, and Learning Jazz

After high school, Diana Krall went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the most respected jazz schools in the world. At Berklee, she studied piano, she learned about harmony and improvisation, and she met other young musicians who were serious about jazz. The school gave her a formal training, and it also gave her a community of players who pushed her to be better. She was a Canadian girl in an American school, and she had to work hard to keep up, but she did, and she learned a great deal.

She also spent time in Los Angeles, where she played in clubs and worked as a jazz pianist. In Los Angeles, she met the great bass player Ray Brown, who had played with Oscar Peterson and with many other jazz legends. Brown became a mentor to her, and he helped her to get work, to meet other musicians, and to understand the jazz world. He also encouraged her to sing more, and to trust her voice. That encouragement mattered, because she had always thought of herself first as a pianist, not as a singer.

She moved to New York, where the jazz scene was larger and more competitive. She played in clubs, she recorded her first albums, and she began to build a reputation. Her first album, Stepping Out, was released in 1993, and it showed her gift for playing and singing standards. Her second album, Only Trust Your Heart, released in 1995, was stronger, and it brought her more attention. She was now a working jazz musician in New York, and she was learning how to lead a trio, how to arrange a song, and how to make a record.

These years were not easy. Jazz was not a big commercial music in the 1990s, and it was hard to make a living from it. She played in small rooms, she travelled, and she kept practising. She did not give up, and she did not change her music to fit pop radio. She believed in jazz, and she believed that if she played it well, people would listen. That belief would soon be proved right.

All for You, Love Scenes, and a Growing Audience

Diana Krall’s breakthrough came with All for You, released in 1996, an album of songs by Nat King Cole. The album was a tribute to Cole, a singer and pianist she admired, and it showed her gift for taking a classic song and making it her own. It was nominated for a Grammy Award, and it sold well for a jazz record. It also brought her a wider audience, including people who did not usually listen to jazz. They heard her voice, they heard her piano, and they wanted more.

Her next album, Love Scenes, released in 1997, was even more successful. It was a quiet, romantic record, with songs about love, and it was recorded with a trio of piano, bass, and guitar. The album sold millions of copies, and it became one of the best-selling jazz albums of its time. It showed that a jazz record could be popular without being loud or flashy. It could be intimate, and it could be beautiful, and people would buy it.

She toured to support these albums, playing in concert halls and in jazz clubs around the world. Her concerts were known for their elegance, for her calm stage presence, and for the quality of her playing. She did not use big stage tricks. She sat at the piano, she sang, and she let the music speak. That simplicity was part of her appeal. She was a musician, not a show, and her audience respected that.

By the late 1990s, she was one of the most successful jazz singers in the world. She had won Juno Awards in Canada, she had been nominated for Grammy Awards, and she had a loyal following. She was also a woman in a jazz world that was still mostly male, and she had earned her place through hard work and through talent. She did not ask for special treatment. She asked to be heard, and she was.

When I Look in Your Eyes and The Look of Love

In 1999, Diana Krall released When I Look in Your Eyes, an album that won her a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. The album was a mix of standards and new songs, and it showed her range as a singer and as a pianist. It was also a more polished record, with strings and a larger band, and it brought her an even wider audience. She was now a jazz star who could fill large halls, and her records were selling in numbers that were rare for jazz.

Then came The Look of Love, released in 2001, an album that became her biggest success. The album was produced by Tommy LiPuma, a producer who had worked with many great singers, and it featured orchestral arrangements by Claus Ogerman. The title song, The Look of Love, is a classic by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and Krall’s version is now one of the most loved. The album sold millions of copies, and it made her famous around the world. It was a jazz album, but it was also a pop album, and it was played on the radio in many countries.

The success of The Look of Love changed her life. She was now a star, she was on magazine covers, and she was being asked to do more interviews and more tours. She handled it with her usual calm. She kept working, she kept practising, and she kept her standards high. She did not let fame change her music. She kept singing standards, she kept playing piano, and she kept working with great musicians.

The album also showed her gift for choosing a song. She did not record a song just because it was famous. She recorded it because she loved it, and because she had something to say about it. That care for the material is part of why her records last. A listener can hear that she means every word, and that she has thought about every note. That is a rare quality, and it is why her audience trusts her.

Elvis Costello, Family, and New Directions

In 2003, Diana Krall married Elvis Costello, a British singer and songwriter known for songs like Alison and Oliver’s Army. The marriage brought together two of the most respected songwriters of their time, and it was a partnership of equals. They lived in New York and in Canada, and they supported each other’s work. Costello wrote songs for Krall, and Krall sang them, and they toured together. It was a marriage of two musicians who understood each other’s lives.

Her next album, The Girl in the Other Room, released in 2004, was a new direction. It included songs she had written with Costello, and it was more personal than her earlier records. The songs were about love, about family, and about the world around her. The album was praised by critics, and it showed that she was not just a singer of standards. She was also a songwriter, and she had something of her own to say. It was a brave step, and it was a successful one.

She also became a mother, giving birth to twin sons, Dexter and Frank, in 2006. Motherhood changed her life, and it changed her music. She took time away from touring to be with her children, and she thought about what she wanted to do next. She was now a wife, a mother, and a star, and she had to balance those roles. She did it with the same calm and discipline she brought to her music.

Her mother, Adella, died in 2002, after a long illness, and that loss shaped her work. She wrote about it, and she sang about it, in a quiet and honest way. She also faced the death of her mentor, Ray Brown, in 2002. These losses were painful, and they gave her music a deeper feeling. She did not hide her grief. She let it into her songs, and her songs became richer for it.

Quiet Nights, Glad Rag Doll, and Keeping Jazz Alive

In the years that followed, Diana Krall kept recording and touring. Quiet Nights, released in 2009, was an album of bossa nova songs, with a gentle, Brazilian feel. It won a Grammy Award, and it showed her gift for taking a style and making it her own. Glad Rag Doll, released in 2012, was an album of old songs from the 1920s and 1930s, with a rawer, more direct sound. It was a surprise to many people, because it was less polished than her earlier work, but it was praised for its honesty.

She also recorded Wallflower in 2015, an album of pop songs by other writers, including the Eagles and Elton John, and Turn Up the Quiet in 2017, an album that returned to jazz standards. Each record showed a different side of her, and each one was made with care. She did not repeat herself. She tried new sounds, new songs, and new producers, and she kept learning. That willingness to change is part of why her career has lasted.

She also worked with other musicians, including Tony Bennett, with whom she recorded an album called Love Is Here to Stay in 2018. The album was a tribute to George Gershwin, and it was a collaboration between two generations of jazz singers. Bennett was in his nineties, Krall was in her fifties, and they sang together with a warmth and a respect that was clear to hear. It was a reminder that jazz is a music that is passed from one generation to the next, and that Krall was now one of its keepers.

She has continued to tour, playing in concert halls around the world, and her concerts are still known for their elegance and their quality. She plays piano, she sings, and she leads a band of great musicians. She does not use big stage effects. She uses music, and that is enough. Her audience comes to hear her play and sing, and they leave feeling that they have heard something real.

Honours, Legacy, and a Voice That Endures

Diana Krall has been honoured many times. She has won Grammy Awards, she has won many Juno Awards, and she has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and she has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. These honours recognise her as one of Canada’s greatest musicians, and as a singer who brought jazz to a wide audience. She accepts them with thanks, and with her usual modesty.

Her legacy is clear. She is a singer and pianist who made jazz popular again, who sold millions of records, and who showed that a jazz album could be a bestseller. She is also a musician who respected the great songs of the past, who learned them well, and who sang them with love. She did not try to make jazz into pop. She made pop listeners love jazz, by singing it beautifully and by playing it with skill. That is a rare achievement, and it is one that will last.

She is still a Nanaimo girl at heart, even after many years in New York and in Los Angeles. She still plays the piano every day, she still practises, and she still thinks about the next song. The girl who began piano lessons at four, who played in bars as a teenager, and who studied at Berklee, became a world star. She did it by working hard, by learning her craft, and by staying true to the music she loved. That is a story worth telling, and it is a voice worth hearing.

She continues to record and to tour, and her fans continue to follow her. Her sons are growing up, her husband is still writing, and her music is still evolving. She is not a star who has stopped. She is a musician who keeps going, and that is the best kind of legacy. A voice like hers does not fade. It deepens, and it keeps finding new songs to sing.

She also learned to choose her band with great care, working with musicians who understood jazz and who could play with subtlety. Her trio, with bass and guitar, was not a loud band. It was a quiet, listening band, and it gave her the space to sing and to play. She trusted her musicians, and they trusted her, and that trust is part of why her records sound so good. A jazz trio is a conversation, and Diana Krall knows how to have that conversation, with her piano, with her voice, and with her band.

She also recorded in a way that let the piano and the voice breathe, working with engineers who understood jazz and who knew how to capture a quiet sound. Her records do not sound loud or compressed. They sound like a real room, with a real piano, and a real voice, and that warmth is part of why people love them. She believed that a record should sound like a performance, not like a product, and she made sure her records did.

She also learned to sing in a way that was both intimate and powerful, letting her voice rise and fall with the piano, and trusting the listener to follow her. She did not sing every song at the same volume. She let each one find its own level, and she let the silence between the notes be heard. That is a hard skill to learn, because most singers are afraid of silence. Diana Krall is not afraid of it. She trusts it, and she uses it well.

Her work with Claus Ogerman, who arranged the strings for The Look of Love, also deserves attention. Ogerman was a master arranger, and he understood how to write for strings without overwhelming a singer. He gave Krall a lush, beautiful sound, and he let her voice be the centre of it. That partnership, between a singer, a producer, and an arranger, is a model for how a great record is made, with trust, with patience, and with a shared love of the song.

She also performed at important national events in Canada, singing for audiences that included leaders, musicians, and ordinary people, and she did so with the same calm and elegance she brings to every concert. Those performances were not just about fame. They were about representing her country, and about showing the world what Canadian jazz can be. She carried that responsibility with grace, and she never let it change her music.

My Take:

When I listen to Diana Krall, I feel as if I am in a small, warm room, with a piano and a singer who is telling me a story. Her voice is low and smooth, and it does not push. It invites. When she sings The Look of Love, I believe she really does know what that look means. When she sings a standard from the 1940s, I believe she really does love that song, and that she has thought about every word. I think that is why her records sell so well. People can hear that she means it, and they trust her.

I admire her discipline more than anything else. She began piano lessons at four, she studied at Berklee, she played in bars, and she practised every day for years. That is not a story of luck. It is a story of work. She learned to play and to sing at the same time, which is a very hard thing to do, and she learned to do it well. I think that is a lesson for any young musician. You do not become a great player by wishing. You become one by practising, by listening, and by playing in small rooms where no one is watching, until you are ready for the big ones.

I think about her mentor, Ray Brown, and about how important a good teacher can be. Brown was a great bass player, and he saw something in a young Canadian pianist, and he helped her. He introduced her to other musicians, he encouraged her to sing, and he gave her confidence. That is a generous act, and it is one that changed her life. I think we all need a Ray Brown, someone who sees our gift and helps us to use it. And I think we should also be a Ray Brown for someone else, when we have the chance.

What moves me is the way she has handled loss. Her mother died in 2002, and her mentor died in the same year, and she sang through that grief. She did not hide it, and she did not make a public show of it. She let it into her music, and her music became deeper. I think that is a mature way to handle loss. You do not have to pretend it did not hurt, and you do not have to let it stop you. You can grieve, you can keep working, and you can let the grief make your work richer. That is what she did, and I respect her for it.

I respect her marriage to Elvis Costello, because it is a marriage of two strong artists who respect each other. They are both famous, they both write songs, and they both have strong opinions, and yet they have built a life together. That takes work, and it takes respect. They wrote songs together, they toured together, and they raised twin sons together. I think that is a beautiful partnership, and it is one that shows that two artists can support each other without losing themselves. That is not easy, and they have done it with grace.

I also think about her decision to record The Girl in the Other Room, an album of her own songs. She could have kept recording standards, and she would have sold millions of records. Instead, she wrote new songs with Costello, and she sang about her own life. That was a brave step, because it meant leaving the safety of the great songs and trying something new. It worked, and it showed that she was not just a singer. She was also a songwriter, and she had something of her own to say. I admire that courage.

Her work with Tony Bennett also matters to me. Bennett was in his nineties, Krall was in her fifties, and they sang Gershwin together. That is a beautiful image of jazz as a music that is passed from one generation to the next. Krall learned from Ray Brown, from Nat King Cole, and from the great singers of the past, and now she is passing that knowledge on. She is a keeper of a tradition, and she takes that role seriously. I think that is important, because a tradition only lives if someone keeps it alive, and she has kept jazz alive for a new generation.

If I have a criticism, it is that some of her albums are too smooth, too polished, and too safe. The Look of Love is beautiful, but it is also very smooth, and it sometimes feels as if the rough edges have been polished away. I prefer her rawer work, like Glad Rag Doll, where you can hear the piano, the voice, and the feeling more clearly. I do not think that makes her a lesser artist. I think it shows that she was trying to reach a wide audience, and that she succeeded. But I sometimes wish she would let the music be a little rougher, a little more direct.

For a young jazz musician, I think the lesson is to learn the standards and to respect them. Diana Krall did not invent jazz. She learned it, she studied it, and she sang it with love. She learned the songs of Nat King Cole, of Gershwin, and of Burt Bacharach, and she made them her own. That is the path. You learn the great songs, you practise them, and then you find your own voice inside them. That takes years, and it takes patience, but it is worth it.

I also think her story teaches us about being a woman in jazz. Jazz has long been a world of men, and women have had to work harder to be heard. Krall did not complain about that in public. She simply played, she sang, and she earned her place. She won Grammy Awards, she filled concert halls, and she became one of the most successful jazz singers in the world. That is a powerful answer to anyone who doubted her. She did not argue. She played, and the music spoke for her.

In the end, I think Diana Krall teaches us that elegance and strength can go together. She is elegant on stage, in her dress, in her piano playing, and in her voice, but she is also strong. She is strong in her discipline, in her work ethic, and in her refusal to compromise. When I hear her sing, I do not just hear a beautiful voice. I hear a woman who has worked hard, who has loved deeply, who has lost painfully, and who has kept singing. That is a story worth hearing, and it is a voice worth keeping.

One more thought stays with me, and it is about the piano. She is a pianist first, and a singer second, and that matters. The piano is her home, and she returns to it every day. When she sits at the piano, she is not performing. She is working, she is thinking, and she is making music. I think that is a lesson for all of us. Find the place where you do your best work, and return to it every day, even when no one is watching. That is how a career is built, and that is how a voice endures.

I also think about her trio, and about how much a good band matters in jazz. She worked with musicians who could listen, who could play quietly, and who could give her space. That is not a small thing. A jazz trio is a conversation, and Diana Krall knows how to have that conversation. She plays, she sings, and she listens, and her band listens back. I think that is a lesson about work. You do not do great work alone. You do it with people you trust, and you let them help you, and the work is better for it.

Her love of Nat King Cole also stays with me. She made an album of his songs, All for You, and she sang them with love and with respect. Cole was a pianist and a singer, like Krall, and he was a model for her. She did not copy him. She learned from him, and then she found her own voice inside his songs. That is the right way to learn from a hero. You do not become them. You learn from them, and then you become yourself. Diana Krall did that, and her voice is her own.

I think about the way she sings a standard, and about how she makes an old song feel new. She does not change the melody to be clever. She sings it clearly, she plays it beautifully, and she lets the song speak. That is a rare gift, because many singers try to show off, and they lose the song. Krall does not show off. She serves the song, and the song rewards her. I think that is a lesson about humility. A great artist does not need to prove how clever they are. They need to serve the work, and the work will speak for itself.

I also think about her twins, Dexter and Frank, and about how motherhood changed her music. She took time away from touring to be with them, and she came back with a new depth. That is a mature choice, and it is one that many working mothers will understand. You do not have to do everything at once. You can take time, you can be present, and you can return when you are ready. Diana Krall did that, and her music is richer for it.

There is a thought I keep returning to, and it is about the word quiet. She made an album called Turn Up the Quiet, and I think that title fits her whole career. She is a quiet singer, in the best sense. She does not shout. She sings softly, she plays gently, and she lets the music be heard. In a loud world, that quietness is a gift. It says that you do not have to be loud to be heard. You have to be clear, and you have to be true, and the audience will listen.

I also want to remember the simple fact that she is a pianist first, and a singer second. The piano is her home, and she returns to it every day. When she sits at the piano, she is not performing. She is working, she is thinking, and she is making music. I think that is a lesson for all of us. Find the place where you do your best work, and return to it every day, even when no one is watching. That is how a career is built, and that is how a voice endures.

I also think about the way she records, and about how much it teaches us. Her records sound like a real room, with a real piano, and a real voice. They do not sound loud or compressed. They sound warm, and that warmth is part of why people love them. She believed that a record should sound like a performance, not like a product, and she made sure her records did. I think that is a lesson about work. Do not polish the life out of what you make. Let it breathe, and let people feel that a real person made it.

I think about her work in Canada, and about how she has given back to the country that gave her a career. She has performed at national events, she has supported Canadian music, and she has stayed close to her roots in Nanaimo and in British Columbia. That is a generous way to be a star. You do not take from a country and then leave. You give back, you stay, and you help the next generation. Diana Krall has done that, and Canada is better for it.

There is a final thought I keep returning to, and it is about the word love. She sang The Look of Love, a song about a look that says everything, without a word. That is a beautiful idea, and it is one that many people will recognise. Love is not always spoken. Sometimes it is a look, a touch, or a quiet moment at a piano. Diana Krall sang that look, and she sang it beautifully, and I am grateful for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where was Diana Krall born and when?

Diana Krall was born on 16 November 1964 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. She began piano lessons at the age of four, and she grew up in a musical family where her father played piano and her mother sang in a church choir.

What is Diana Krall’s most famous album?

Her most famous album is The Look of Love, released in 2001, which sold millions of copies around the world. The title song, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, is one of her best-loved recordings, and the album made her a global jazz star.

Who is Diana Krall married to?

She is married to Elvis Costello, the British singer and songwriter, since 2003. They have twin sons, Dexter and Frank, born in 2006, and they have written songs and toured together.

Did Diana Krall win a Grammy Award?

Yes, she has won Grammy Awards, including Best Jazz Vocal Performance for When I Look in Your Eyes, released in 1999, and for Quiet Nights, released in 2009. She has also won many Juno Awards in Canada.

What was Diana Krall’s first big jazz album?

Her breakthrough came with All for You in 1996, a tribute to Nat King Cole, followed by Love Scenes in 1997, which became one of the best-selling jazz albums of its time and brought her a wide audience.

Is Diana Krall still touring and recording?

Yes, she has continued to record albums, including Turn Up the Quiet in 2017 and a collaboration with Tony Bennett called Love Is Here to Stay in 2018, and she still tours, playing piano and singing jazz standards in concert halls around the world.