Though her sultry vocals had been winning her awards since high school, there was no way of knowing how big a success her debut album, Feels Like Home, would wind up becoming. Honing her mix of country, soul, jazz and pop over years in the NYC lounge circuit, she’d appeared with enough established artists in the scene to guarantee a modest audience for her album. The media quickly picked up on her charm, giving her label Blue Note the chance to put the album in every store that sold music and quite a few that didn’t. The gambit worked, as the album gradually reached #1, with the approval of the Grammys helping to keep it in the charts for ages. An early example of how in-store play could be used to push records when traditional modes of promotion aren’t available, she’s the godmother of the Starbucks set — and she hasn’t even turned 30.

Unofficially Norah Jones