Norah Jones almost gave up music before finding fame

Norah Jones has confessed she almost gave up music before shooting to international stardom with her debut album Come Away With Me.

The pianist-daughter of acclaimed sitarist Ravi Shankar, who went on to sell 10 million copies of her jazz hit, revealed she was prepared to give up on her music dreams while struggling in New York as a waitress.

"I'd gained weight — waiting tables, I was eating a lot of corn muffins and I didn't know they were filled with butter. I felt fat, I felt gross," Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

The singer hailed her mother for encouraging her to stick around and not give up on her guts.

Norah added, "I called my mom crying and said I wanted to go back to Texas. But my mom said, you know, you've only been there six months; at least give it a full year."