Vans Blue Jewel discovered her knack for writing poetry at an early age since her mom encouraged her and her two brothers, Shane and Atz Lee, to explore their creativity openly. By the time she was six years old, Jewel was performing for the local tourists with her parents.

Vans Blue Jewel spent her junior and senior high school years at the Interlocked Fine Arts Academy in Michigan as a voice major. After completing her education at Interlocked in 1992, she and her mother moved to San Diego, where Jewel attempted to “find herself”.

She wasn’t interested in pursuing higher education and had no real passion for anything besides writing poetry (or songs, depending on how you look at it). Not knowing what to do with her, she looked for a job, but could not find anything that she wanted to do. Vans Blue Jewel was uncertain of what she really wanted, knowing only what she did not want to do.

She gave up on trying working and chose to live out of a van and write songs, living off peanut butter and carrots. Songwriting was one of the few things she enjoyed at the time, so she stuck with it.

Vans Blue Jewel soon began writing poetry by day and rubbing elbows with local musicians by night. She began to land gigs and performed in coffeehouses at first. She finally found something she loved and realized that people enjoyed her music. She loved the feeling of bringing joy into the lives of others. She began to work with Steve Poltz and his band, The Rug burns, as well as several other local musicians.

She continued working at these small shows, until someone noticed her and mentioned her to an executive at Atlantic Records in Los Angeles. She recorded four live singles that she had written over the last few years. To promote her upcoming album, she continued to tour coffeehouses until Pieces of You was released in February 1995.

She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995. Jewel recorded “Pieces of You” in a studio on Neil Young’s ranch, and was backed by his band, The Stray Gators, who played on Neil Young’s “Harvest” and “Harvest Moon” albums. Part of the album was cut live at the Interchange Coffeehouse in San Diego where she had risen to local fame.

The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak. The album spawned the Top 10 hits “You Were Meant for Me,” “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Foolish Games.” The album was a huge success and eventually sold over 12 million copies in the U.S. alone, more than all of her subsequent albums put together.

Vainshtein eventually became Jewel’s manager, and was instrumental in creating a major bidding war, which led to Jewel’s deal with Atlantic Records. She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995.

Jewel recorded “Pieces of You” in a studio on Neil Young’s ranch, and was backed by his band, The Stray Gators, who played on Neil Young’s “Harvest” and “Harvest Moon” albums. Part of the album was cut live at the Interchange Coffeehouse in San Diego where she had risen to local fame.

The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak. The album spawned the Top 10 hits “You Were Meant for Me,” “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Foolish Games.” The album was a huge success and eventually sold over 12 million copies in the U.S. alone, more than all of her subsequent albums put together.

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Lewis also carries locally made jewelry from Aurora Ice. Beautiful scenery will stimulate the senses and take one’s worries off physical exertion. Marathoners’ biggest concerns may be encountering a moose! The four races start and finish at Westchester Lagoon, conducted entirely on municipal bike paths.

Blue Jewel was discovered by Inga Vainshtein in August of 1993, when a musician from a local San Diego band, Rust, whom Vainshtein was managing at the time, called to tell her about a girl surfer who sang at a local coffee shop on Thursdays.

Vainshtein drove to interchange coffee shop with a rep from Atlantic Records, and after the show they called Danny Goldberg, the head of Atlantic Record’s west coast operations, and asked him to pay for Jewel’s demo. Vainshtein eventually became Jewel’s manager, and was instrumental in creating a major bidding war, which led to Jewel’s deal with Atlantic Records.