Vans Blue Jewel Kilter came from what can be best described as an unusual background. She was born on May 23, 1974, to parents Atz Kilcher and Lenedra Carroll, in Payson, Utah. Her family soon moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where she grew up on an eight-hundred-acre farm. She spent her time taking care of horses, haying and working in the family’s garden.

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.

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