Jewel Never Broken Book Signing

On September 26^th, at Book Soup West Hollywood , Jewel had a book signing and discussion about her latest book Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story. Sporting a wrapped sleeveless top with a bralette underneath, paired with a fitted blue jeans and brown ankle boots, she looked like she had just stepped out of fashion magazine.

When Jewel was introduced she started with, “Yes Jewel is my real name and yes, these are my real teeth… people asked me that…I’d like to get those questions out of the way.”

I’ve been to a lot of book signing events, but I have never been as engrossed and inspired as I was with Jewel’s discussion about her memoir. Because when you look at Jewel…her beauty and her talent… you don’t realize that she has been through so much in her life. Her unconventional upbringing and extraordinary life proved to be an inspiration to the readers. During her discussion, she mentioned living on a homestead during her childhood. She also talked about her marriage, and motherhood. As she put it, she is the real-life Cinderella story. The first part of her discussion, she said, “It was an interesting process to write this book. It was a very strange time of my life. I was emotionally weary…going through a divorce, learning to be a single mom, making a record, and writing the book all at the same time. It was a great process for me. I wrote the book because people often ask me, ‘How did you go from your background to being where you are now?’ The truth is, it is something I tried to put a lot of thought into along the way, to avoid a lot of mistakes. I was trying to be thoughtful at least about it.”

Jewel talks about her life prior to her successful career

Moving to Alaska

Jewel’s parents were singers. Her family members were immigrants who came from Switzerland. They were living in Germany just before the Second World War. They were a group of artists of all disciplines…singers, philosophers. The family decided they wanted to escape the war, and they moved to Alaska. When they moved to Alaska, there were no roads… just wagons. They lived on a homestead. She also mentioned that she learned to yodel at the age of five. She said, “It was that sort of spirit I was raised with. I lived in a saddle barn, which I get to tell my son about, which is really cool. It was a beautiful place to be raised in, and it was an incredible experience. My grandmother taught all her children how to sing. She is an accomplished poet. My aunts and uncle are all musical; they sing very well. Dad is a professional musician and made several records. He was going to try to go national when mom left. When that happened, he gave up his dream of being a nationwide musician.”

In the book she talks a lot about Alaska, and growing up in a musical home. “I didn’t have a lot going for me. I didn’t feel confident. The women and spirit of Alaska that I was raised around was so strong. Women up there would build their own homes and train their horses. That was a tremendous thing going for me. And that gave me the courage to move out when I was 15.”

Moving out at the age of 15

The multi-platinum singer-songwriter moved out at the age of 15. “Statistically, I would end up on drugs, or with somebody on drugs, in an abusive relationship, or getting pregnant at a young age. And I wanted to see if I could break the statistic. I luckily had a teacher who taught philosophy. He got me reading a lot of great classics…ideas that were very important and very empowering,” she said.

Nature versus Nurture

Jewel talked about the idea of nature versus nurture, what she learned about re-nurturing herself, and how she learned to study other people. She spoke of how we’re all part of emotional language in our homes. “In the book I talk about what I call emotional English. We’re all part of emotional language in our homes. It’s been invisible to us. We’re all taught ways of relating. How we handle conflicts, how we experience love.” The talented singer could not help but tell the story of her pet Caramel who is a bunny, and she incorporated the idea of nature versus nurture:

“I remember the idea of nature versus nurture. We had this bunny when I was a kid. His name was Caramel. He was a tiny baby when we got him, and he was very vulnerable. We put him in a chicken coop because that was the safest place, and there was nothing to get in there and eat him. So he thought he was a chicken. Actually, he had never seen another bunny in his entire life. He learned how to eat and walk from chicken. So he didn’t eat like a normal bunny, he didn’t hop like a normal bunny. He kinda had this funny little waddle that he did. And he grew up a pretty little bunny. He actually warmed eggs for the hens. It was really cute to see him wrapping up over little baby chicks that were coming out from under his fur. It was really sweet, but a little startling. What if I’m a little bunny being raised by chickens? How can I ever know my nature if my nurture is so extreme that it doesn’t allow me to know my nature? And so I started to look at that, and look at ‘can you re-nurture yourself?’ If you don’t like your nurture, can you learn your emotional language? So those are the questions I started asking myself at 15 to see if I could avoid being a statistic. And it’s funny, my life took a lot of twist and turns. I really learned to study other people, and to watch other people, to have the emotional language I admired. “

18 and Homeless

At the age of 18 Jewel was homeless in San Diego. She said when applying for shelter or food, they gave her a hard time because she didn’t have an address. One time she had a terrible stomach pain, and they would not take her at the hospital.

Good fortune started to be on her side. During those homeless years, a radio DJ in SD aired a bootleg version of one of her songs. That song was requested in the top-ten countdown, which was something unheard-of for an unsigned artist. Fast forward three years later, by the time she was twenty-one, her debut song had gone multiplatinum.

This is just a brief story of what she discussed before the book signing event at Book Soup. Jewel continues to inspire fans about self-discovery, her music and her journey to find happiness.