Norah Jones

Sounds good, recorded good, looking super good... what else is needed for pop star?
Plays OK for freshman music college level and sings a notch better than Madonna.
My professional opinion.
She's nowhere near of mastering even average classical piano pieces and needs substantially more practice vs. she's had so far, but if you have good connections in show biz, you can succeed having just minimum.
There are plenty of bar musicians far better skilled and even enjoyed by lots of visitors during their performances, but skill can't take you to the road of fame and large audiences, unless you have either substantial talent, good connections or stunning looks.
At the same time I understand and don't want to offend those who's never had any musical instrument in their hands-on. There are certain details they won't understand in music and this is for vast majority of listeners. Otherwise there would be no Madonna, Justin T, Bieber, Brittney, Kenny G, Yanni and perhaps Norah.

Czarivey you really make some excellent points about the business side of the music biz and how someone could be one of the choosen few based on the criteria you've outlined but wouldn't you agree that for sustainability in this business there has to be something more than can be encapsulated in some kind of formula?

Why has Madonna remained relevant for 30 years? Why did Bobby Sherman and the Partridge Family (David Cassidy) last a few years? There are many factors in the equation to sustained success that IMHO you haven't covered although it is quite obvious to me that you certainly know a bit about the subject. Norah Jones, love her or not has passed the stage of a "packaged" product to make a few bucks, the business side. She is still relevant, folks like her regardless of the things she had going for her from the start, looks, connections etc. There has to be more, a genuine talent to keep folks coming back for more. Maybe it's nothing more than determination on the part of the artist or even a great manager, or producer. But beyond even those things there has to be sustainable appeal and talent in some part or parcel to maintain success and revelancy. I doubt there will ever be a formula to get that one right all the time.

Sure there is. It's called marketing to the masses.

Newbee, you seem in imminent danger of same.
Tube, you seem determined to live by the fuzzy-thinkers mantra of every thing and thought being equal to every other one.

Czarivey, you are spot on, truth from start to finish.
Admirable restraint in not saying without her dad nobody would have ever heard of her.

Schubert, her father never even saw her until she was 10. The guy wasn't a part of her life. She was a waitress and played piano in bars. It was her sister who was the recipient of Ravi's attention. Oddly enough, I like Anoushka's Sitar playing as much as I like Norah's music. That should set of a wild burning hair in someone.