Norah Jones News

It's the day before her first major-label release, and Keri Noble says she's feeling no pressure.

Even though she's the leadoff artist on EMI's revived Manhattan label, and mega-million-seller Norah Jones is on a companion label.

"I don't think that anybody has expectations that, `OK, Day One you'd better sell a million copies,' or something like that," says Noble, a pianist and singer-songwriter with a beguiling alto whose debut, "Fearless," hit stores last week.

At 26, Noble is a young woman who sings with a lot of experience. She wrote all 12 songs on her debut and tackles subjects from first crushes ("Talk to Me") to women's empowerment ("I Won't").

And while women are a target audience, Noble doesn't want to be pigeonholed. She recalls performing at a Harley-Davidson 100th anniversary bash in Milwaukee, "and you have guys in leather vests and tattoos and bandanas holding my CD and standing in line to get more."

She adds: "Although it's easy to say, yep, women do respond the most to it — which is true — I think there's stuff on it for everybody."

Wearing a black Cyndi Lauper T-shirt (Noble recently opened a tour for the pop singer) and torn jeans, Noble comes across as friendly and down-to-earth in an interview. Her hair is a tousled mane of blond curls, and her eyes are a piercing blue-gray.

Noble says she's not trying to reach anyone in particular with her songs: "I'm trying to scratch the itch that wants to write a song, and when I've written it, then the itch is scratched and I feel better. So I'm writing for myself."

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Noble (her first name is Keren) grew up in Detroit, where her parents still live. Her father grew up in Peru and is the Southern Baptist pastor of a Spanish-speaking church. While he's not Hispanic, Noble says her father "thinks in Spanish. His Spanish is sometimes better than his English."

While writing "I Won't," Noble threw in a Spanish lyric — a nod to her history. "It just started to take on kind of a Latin feel to me," she says.

Her mother, "a huge music fan," would bring home some Beatles albums along with church and choir music, Noble says. Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith were among the contemporary Christian artists Noble would listen to.

But it was Joni Mitchell 's "Blue" album that aroused the artist in Noble seven years ago while she attended Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Mich.

"All of the sudden it was just this thing that happened inside, almost like my organs were moving around," Noble says.

She kept journals, which led to writing poetry and eventually songs. While playing in Detroit, she met guitarist Billy McLaughlin, who flew her to Minneapolis to open for him. That prompted her move to Minneapolis three years ago.

She finds something special about the Minneapolis arts scene.

"Probably the cold keeps it special," she says, "because if it had a better climate, it would be San Francisco or something that everybody wanted to go to."

Minneapolis guitarist Jeff Arundel produced "Fearless." In the studio he would record Noble singing live to her piano playing instead of dubbing it later.

"There's a magic doing it that way," Arundel says of recording live. "You generally always get a performance that, in some weird way, is more connected to the song. But it's hard to do, and most people can't do it."

Noble impressed music veterans Arif Mardin and Ian Ralfini, who are co-executive producers of "Fearless" and head EMI's Manhattan label. The label was restarted in 2001 after releasing titles by such artists as Gladys Knight, Richard Marx and Bobby McFerrin in the 1980s and '90s.

"We were mesmerized — the vocals, the sweetness of the tone and delivery, and her piano playing. We really knew that we were on to something wonderful," says Mardin, who has worked with Aretha Franklin , Bette Midler and the Bee Gees, and who produced Norah Jones' 2002 smash debut, "Come Away With Me."

Ralfini also cites Noble's hardworking attitude. She recently did a month-long tour of radio stations, playing her portable keyboard in their conference rooms with Arundel on guitar.

"She's literally done everything that we've asked her to do without question," Ralfini says.

But Mardin says EMI is not looking for a repeat of Jones' astonishing success with Noble. ("Come Away With Me" has sold 8.2 million copies in the United States, and her followup, "Feels Like Home," has sold 2.1 million since its release in February, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks album sales.)

Noble also says she's not under any pressure from her label.

"I don't think they have any expectations that I have to get on MTV or I'm out."

Noble says she never thought she'd be on a major label, "so it's already far exceeded my expectations."

"But now I have to think a little bigger," she says. "I gotta start making some dreams so I can have something to shoot for."

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On the Net:

Keri Noble: http://www.kerinoble.com

Manhattan Records: http://www.manhattanrecords.com

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Jeff Baenen can be reached at jbaenen(at)ap.org