Singer Jewel opens up to Renaissance Unity audienceSinger-songwriter Jewel performs Saturday at Renaissance Unity in Warren as part of a diverse, star-studded gathering of inspirational speakers and performers.
Jewel Kilcher says people can’t experience life’s joys without opening up and forcing themselves to be vulnerable.
The four-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter fulfilled her philosophy on her new album, “Picking Up the Pieces,” and in her new memoir, “Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story.”
And she adhered to it at a performance and talk Saturday at Renaissance Unity spiritual community in Warren as part of a star-studded lineup for the inspirational gathering, “Renaissance 2015. Together, We Change Tomorrow.”
Also scheduled to speak and/or perform were political commentator Cokie Roberts; R&B singer Kem, a former member of the church’s choir; 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Laymah Gbowee; local singer Thornetta Davis; singer-composer Rickie Byers Beckwith from Agape in California; Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay; and best-selling author Marianne Williamson, who served as senior minister at Renaissance Unity from 1997 through 2002.
Jewel opened up to a mostly middle-aged crowd of a couple of hundred about her life growing up poor and abused in the backwoods of Alaska, leaving home at 15 and finding success as a singer-songwriter. She has sold 27 million albums worldwide.
Facing the audience with guitar in hand, Jewel intertwined her life tales with a handful of songs, opening with an acappella rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and performing a couple of her smash hits, all of which drew exuberant applause.
She said a turning point came in her life came around age 19 when she was so unhappy and struggling she decided to stop hiding her emotions and write songs about them. She had been singing since age 4 and attended Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan.
“I decided to make a vow to write my write my worst, darkest, most shameful secrets, and to say them out loud,” she said. “I had always been writing honestly in my journals but nobody ever saw them. … Nobody actually knew me. No wonder I felt isolated, no wonder I felt alone. … So I let people actually see me exactly for who I was, no matter how flawed I was.”
She performed a gig in a San Diego coffee shop in front of an audience of two, she said.
“I was really shocked that I sort of said these shocking things,” she said. “They didn’t make fun of me. They didn’t rebuke me. They actually felt less alone themselves. And I felt less alone. We formed an alliance.”
Her coffee-shop appearances drew bigger and bigger crowds and attrracted the interest of record executives.
“It was a lot like being Cinderella,” she said with a laugh.
Jewel also described her unique 9/11 experience. She and her then-husband, Ty Murray, went camping in the rustic woods of Northern California for several days. While driving back to civilization Sept. 14, 2011, they saw flags at half-mast and words of hope scrawled on pizza boxes and receipts. They learned about the attacks.
“We were sitting there in complete disbelief,” she said.
A radio disc jockey played Jewel’s song, “Hands,” and dedicated to America.
“It was a very surreal and humbling moment,” she said.
Her story segued into her performance of “Hands.”
She also played a song from the new album, which she said is a return to her roots. She said in an interview following her performance that she released it on her own label because of its perceived lack of potential for commercial success by record companies.
“It’s a raw, very emotional record,” she said. “It’s a return to the style of my first album.”
Jewel, who lives in Nashville, said it was a good time to write the book as she was “going through a divorce” with Murray. She simultaneously released the two creations Sept. 11 so she can do a combined book and album tour to reduce the amount of time away from her 4-year-old son, Kase.
Jewel also advised the enthusiastic crowd to not let others dictate their choices.
“We’re all architects of our own lives,” she said. “Happiness isn’t a destination, it’s a side effect of a lifestyle that you’re willing to commit to. It’s like building a home. … You have to build an environment for happiness to come instead of chaos.”
Each audience member received a copy of her book.
Before Jewel, Gbowee spoke. She is a Liberian peace activist who led a women’s peace movement that helped end the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003.
She told the crowd to maintain their dreams even when “you’re riding a wave of doubt” and rely on whatever “high power” they ascribe to.
“That person (power) will have your back,” she said. “It (a dream) doesn’t have to be grand to have a grand result.”
After a standing ovation, she led the crowd in group prayer.
Debbie Francisco, who traveled to Novi to attend the event, said Gbowee’s talk gave her inspiration.
“I’m inspired by all she has done, her perseverance, not giving up,” she said.
