Jewel was born in Payson, Utah to German-speaking immigrants from Switzerland: Atz Kilcher and Lenedra Carroll. She spent most of her young life in Homer, Alaska, living with her father. The home she grew up in did not have indoor plumbing; it had a simple outhouse instead. She and her father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences she learned to yodel, a quality demonstrated in many of her songs. Her father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before she turned eight.

During high school, Jewel was known to spell her name "Jule" or "Juel", but she attributes this to simply playing with her name, as teenagers are prone to do.

Jewel learned to play the guitar while on scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in operatic voice. She started writing songs at the age of seventeen.

For a time, she was poverty-stricken and lived in her van while traveling about the country busking and doing small gigs. She gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. Her friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns played the same venues. Jewel later collaborated with Poltz on some of her songs, including "You Were Meant For Me." (He also appeared in the second, best-known, video for this song.) The Rugburns opened for Jewel on her Tiny Lights tour in 1997. Poltz appeared in Jewel's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar.

It was at these coffeehouse appearances that she was discovered by Atlantic Records. She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995. Some of the songs on the album were recorded at the coffeehouse. 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.

The original version of "Who Will Save Your Soul" was removed from the final version of the album when she went back into the studio and reworked the single for the radio. Instead of just a guitar and her voice, other instruments were added and more pop sound was created, a verse was cut, and the radio version of the single was produced.

Jewel's music is noted for its stark honesty and soulful introspection. However, as is the case with many writers, some of her songs are not based on events that actually occurred in her life. Her songs resist categorization, but, because of their mostly guitar accompaniment, have sometimes been categorized as folk music or the hybrid class folk-pop. However, her music is mostly recognized as popular music and enjoys wide exposure on a variety of music radio stations.

Due to her success, she was chosen to sing the national anthem at the opening of the Super Bowl in January 1998.

In November 1998, Jewel released her second album, Spirit. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. The songs "Hands" and "Down So Long" hit the Top 10. Other singles followed, a new version of "Jupiter (Swallow The Moon), "What's Simple Is True", the theme song to her upcoming movie, and the charity single "Life Uncommon".

A year later, In November 1999, Jewel released her holiday album, Joy: A Holiday Collection. The album sold over a million copies and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. She released a cover of "Joy to the World" from the album.

In November 2001, the album This Way was released. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S., standing as her most critically acclaimed album to date. Jewel hit the Top 10 with the song "Standing Still" and the Top 40 with the song "Break Me". Other singles released were "This Way" and "Serve The Ego", the latter giving Jewel her first number one club hit.

Although noted for original songs, Jewel has been known to cover a few famous tunes. Of note are the acoustic version of the classic The Water Is Wide and the Christmas songs on Joy: A Holiday Collection. However, the rise of file-sharing software has led to at least two instances where many people mistakenly believe she sings other cover versions: the version "Bizarre Love Triangle" credited to Jewel is in fact by New Order, while the version of "Leaving On A Jet Plane" credited to Björk and Jewel is actually by Chantal Kreviazuk.

In 2003 Jewel underwent a drastic image change with the release of her album 0304. She writes in her liner notes, "I wanted to make a record that was a modern interpretation of big band music. A record that was lyric driven, like Cole Porter stuff, that also had a lot of swing. And a lot of it is thanks to Lester, because when I told him I wanted to make a record that combined dance, urban and folk music, he didn't look at me like I was crazy." While some fans considered 0304 an innovative album that held to the tradition of her previous albums, others felt that Jewel's new direction brought with it an unwelcome change to her folky sound and folksy, unassuming persona.

Her video for the debut single Intuition had her cavorting in full dance numbers, often scantily clad in bras and bikinis. The song, with a music style uncharacteristic of Jewel that featured the prevalent pop beat, and video were an ironic social commentary on the state of music, but it left many wondering if Jewel had in fact become what she was satirizing, especially considering the fact the song was licensed by Schick to promote their new Intuition woman's razor. "Intuition" hit the Top 20, and the album 0304 debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, giving Jewel her highest chart dating ever. A follow-up single, "Stand," was released, but did not help the album in the U.S., where it sold just 900,000 units, making it her lowest-selling album at the time. "0304" gave Jewel her highest selling album in Australia, despite its lukewarm reception elsewhere.

On May 2, 2006, Jewel released her sixth album, "Goodbye Alice In Wonderland". The album received mixed reviews, but still managed to debut at #8 on the Billboard Albums Chart. The album sold 82,000 copies in its first week out. The lead single "Again and Again" has had moderate success on Top 40 Radio, peaking at #16. The second single, "Good Day", was released to radio in late June but failed to gain any traction on the radio airplay charts.

As of August 2006, The album has not performed up to expectations having barely sold 250,000 copies. It is notable in that it is the only Jewel album to not achieve Gold certification.

She has had a long-term relationship with rodeo star Ty Murray. Controversially, she has said that drinking helps one in life. "I didn't start drinking until I was 30," Jewel told Blender, as reported in the New York Post. "I grew up singing for alcoholics, and it never really seemed like alcohol fixed anything... Around 30, I kind of realized that alcohol really does solve all your problems. Whoever said drinking doesn't help lied. You live and you learn."

One retrospective critique of Jewel's albums is that most of the singles released from her records are remixed, radically altered, or completely different recordings of the song found on the record. Of the eighteen singles released since her debut record Pieces of You, fourteen have been altered for the radio.

Jewel starred in the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride with the Devil. Jewel starred as Dorothy in the 1995 "Dreams Come True" production of "The Wizard of Oz" (available on VHS.)

Jewel and boyfriend, Ty Murray, were presenters at the 2006 CMT Country Music Awards.

Jewel was the musical guest on a 1998 episode of Saturday Night Live, with Host Joan Allen.

In 2003, Jewel appeared on VH1's 2003 Diva Duets, performing solo with her single at the time Intuition, and sung a duet of Tina Turner's cover "Rollin'" with Beyonce.

Jewel guest-starred in the NBC legal drama The Lyon's Den in 2003, playing Rob Lowe's character's ex-girlfriend who was also a lawyer.

Jewel appeared on an episode of The Young and the Restless on May 31, 2006. On the show, Jewel, appearing as herself, performed at a fundraiser hosted by characters Nick and Sharon Newman to mark the first anniversary of their teenage daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident.

Jewel will also be providing the voice for the character of 'Punk Rock Angel Girl' for the Nickelodeon eponymous animated show. Jewel was actually the one to come up with the concept of the show, she wrote the first episode and drew the character.

Jewel once did a disco version of the Bob the Builder theme and provides back up vocals for the original Bob the Builder theme song.

Jewel has also done many late night talk shows, including Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, and many more taped from 1996 to 2006.

Jewel published a book of poetry titled "A Night Without Armor" in 1998. Although it sold over 1 million copies and was a New York Times Bestseller, it received mixed reviews, with Beau Sia lampooning her writing style in his own book, A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, which he wrote in four hours.

Jewel went on to write an autobiography titled Chasing Down the Dawn in 2000. Chasing Down The Dawn was a collection of diary entries and musings detailing her life growing up in Alaska, her struggle to learn her craft and life on the road.

Jewel was scheduled to release a third book called "Love Poems" which was supposed to be an extremely intimate portrayal of her relationship with her boyfriend Ty Murray. It was canceled several months before release because Jewel was worried about Ty's mother's reaction to her intimate confessions.

Jewel Kilcher formed a non-profit organization called Higher Ground For Humanity with her mother Lenedra J. Carroll and her older brother Shane Kilcher. The organization's main focus became access to clean water in developing countries after The Clearwater Project was launched in 1999. The organization's focus is education, sustainable improvements, and building alliances with like minded organizations.

The Clearwater Project has taken on projects in South America, Central America, India, and Africa, building wells and water filtration systems. One such project was the reactivation of construction of a well through the use of a solar powered pump for the benefit of the Maasai people in the Sukenia region of Tanzania, Africa. Before Clearwater's involvement villagers were walking as much as 10 hours a day to fetch clean water. Other projects have taken place in Malakkara, India; Gualcea, Honduras; Sisoguichi, Mexico; and Bangladesh.

Jewel donates a portion of her income to the organization and often holds events to benefit the organization. The organization tends to parallel the career of Jewel since she provides the majority of the organization's funding. As of 2005, the activities of the organization were reduced.