Can you tell me about Diana Krall, the excellent jazz pianist and singer? Is she related to Roy and Irene Kral, who were popular on the concert jazz scene some years ago?
—Richard M., New Hampshire
Her parents both played the piano, and her grandmother was a singer, but Diana Krall is not related to jazz singers Roy and Irene Kral. As a child growing up in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Krall was surrounded by music. Every Sunday the family would gather around the piano at her grandparents' house to play and sing, and jazz standards were a favorite. Krall, now 38, began playing piano as a 4-year-old. By the time she was 15, she had a regular paying gig performing at a local restaurant three nights a week. She received a scholarship to Berklee School of Music in Boston, where she studied for two years before heading to Los Angeles. There, she studied with bassist Ray Brown and Hollywood Bowl music director John Clayton. Another mentor, the late Jimmy Bowles, encouraged Diana to sing. She won her first Grammy in 1999 and was the first jazz artist in more than two decades to have a record nominated in the Album of the Year category.
