Keri Noble was born in Texas (various accounts say in 1975 or 1977) but moved to Michigan when she was a child. Her minister father made sure she had a religious oriented education, but Noble focused on secular music when she began performing. Joni Mitchell’s album Blue inspired her to follow the traditional singer/songwriter path of crafting personal, confessional songs. A professional contact led her to Minneapolis, where she worked her way into the music scene, eventually signing with EMI. She collaborated with producer Arif Marden on her major label debut, 2004’s Fearless, which showcased her deeply emotional lyrics and evocative vocal delivery on tracks like “Bartender” and “Falling”. Though she drew comparisons with Norah Jones, Noble’s work showed a more soulful and less jazzy influence than Jones’ work in that period. Four years later she released her self-titled sophomore effort. Noble self-released 2010’s When It Don’t Come Easy, and a holiday-themed album, More Than Santa, the next year. In 2011 she also started working as a radio personality in Minneapolis and was so successful it led to a local television show. Noble continued to release new material, while also starting to work as a vocal coach. In 2018 she left radio to focus on her students in 2018, releasing Hurricane that same year.
