'We are overcome with happiness': Jewel gives birth to a baby son

Overjoyed: Jewel welcomed baby Kase on Monday night

Jewel has given birth to a baby boy.

The 36-year-old singer and her husband, professional bull rider Ty Murray, welcomed son Kase Townes Murray last night in Texas.

Their bundle of joy weighed in at  7lbs, 6oz. 

'Ty and I are so pleased to welcome our new baby boy into the world,' the singer told People magazine in a statement.

'We are overcome with happiness – it really is as great as everyone told us it would be – better even!'

The star, who broke on to the music scene in 1995 with album Pieces of You, discovered she was pregnant while co-hosting reality show Platinum Hit.

'I took a pregnancy test and it was positive,' she told People at the time. 'It was so hard to keep it a secret.'

Jewel and her husband, who married in the Bahamas back in 2008, had been trying to conceive for two years. 

'I have always been a workaholic, so I had to learn how to slow down and take care of myself in a different way,' the star has said about her struggle to get pregnant.'

She also had a scare, when at five months pregnant in March, she was involved in an accident where she was hit by a fire truck while driving. 

Fortunately, she was released from hospital after tests showed she and her unborn baby were unharmed. 

Happy parents: Jewel and husband Ty Murray, pictured at the Grammy Awards back in February, were thrilled to welcome their first baby  

She has clearly been busy preparing for her new arrival - a few days ago she tweeted: 'I wrote the baby a small book of poems. Assembling it now-while I have time to do it!'

The singer has also been working on a new children's album entitled The Merry Goes 'Round, which will be released in August. 

The couple will soon be taking their new arrival back to their 2,200 acre farm in Stephenville, Texas, where People reports they have spent the spring converting a guest room into a nursery.