Paula Cole
(born April 5, 1968, Rockport, Massachusetts) is an American singer/songwriter. Her single "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
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PAULA COLE TICKETS
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Early life
Cole was born to Stephanie, a visual artist, and Jim Cole, a polka-playing
entomologist. She has a sister named Irene. She lived in Rockport with her parents, where she attended elementary school . She was an active and popular student in middle school and high school, holding offices as class
president and
student council member. In addition, she was very active in the school's theatre arts program, starring in many productions, among them
Flower Drum Song
and
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
. She was a French Club member and traveled to France as part of a well-established exchange program founded by Foreign Language department head Mary Hayes. Cole entered the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston when she was 18, where she studied
jazz singing and
improvisation.
Recording career
Cole got her first big professional break when she was invited to perform on
Peter Gabriel's 1993-1994
Secret World Live tour. Shortly after this, she was signed on with her first record company Imago Records. Through this record company, she released her first album
Harbinger
in 1994. Within that year of ''Harbinger
s release, Imago Records went out of business. In 1995, she was signed on to Warner Bros. Records. The record company reissued
Harbinger'' in the
Autumn of 1995.
Harbinger
Cole released her debut album,
Harbinger
, in 1994 with Imago Records. She appeared with
Melissa Etheridge to sing a duet on
VH1 though she was not well-known at the time.
Harbinger
featured songs dwelling on Cole's personal thoughts on
discrimination and unhappiness. The songs were musically lush but driven and bleak. The accompanying artwork featured photographs of Cole with a boyishly short haircut, wearing loose fitting black sweatclothes, combat boots and
nose ring. Unfortunately the Imago label folded and promotion of
Harbinger
was limited, affecting its sales. A single, "I Am So Ordinary", was released with a bleak, low-budget black and white video that reflected the album's artwork.
This Fire
In late 1996, Cole released her second album on
Warner Bros. Records,
This Fire
, which was entirely self-produced. The albums' debut single, "
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone", became an instant smash
radio (reaching #8 on
Billboard magazine's pop chart) and
MTV hit. The follow-up single, "
I Don't Want to Wait", was a #11 pop hit single. The single "Me" (#35) was also released. The title "Hush, hush, hush", a duet with Peter Gabriel talks about AIDS and about a young gay man dying in his father's comforting arms. "Feelin' Love" was included in the
City of Angels soundtrack.
Cole toured with the
Lilith Fair and garnered even more critical acclaim for her live performances. Cole was nominated for several
Grammy awards in 1997. Among them was "Producer of the Year" (Cole was the second woman to ever be nominated in this category); she did not win, but did win "Best New Artist".
Amen
Cole took a hiatus to have and begin raising her daughter Sky. In 1999 Cole released
Amen
with the newly formed "Paula Cole Band". The album's debut single "I Believe In Love" was initially not a success but was remixed by producer
Steven Miller into a successful dance song. The album failed to match the success of
This Fire.
A fourth album was recorded but the label refused to release it; in 2005 Cole uploaded one of the tracks, "
Singing Out My Life," to her own website to get her sound out there. She also recorded a song called "It's My Life" during these sessions, which can be heard in
Mercury automobile commercials. Cole also made a home recording of a politically charged song called "My Hero Mr. President".
Courage
Cole returned in June 2007 with her fourth studio album
Courage
, which was released on
Decca Records.
Instruments
In addition to singing Paula uses numerous different instruments throughout her songs, performing many herself such as her main instrument
piano,
Juno, Juno bass, tube Wurlitzer, harmonium, beat boxing vocals, toy
xylophones,
didjeridu,
clarinet, Rhodes, Rhodes bass, Moog, and low tuned-
electric guitar in different songs.
Current status
Cole performed a two-hour set at
Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts on February 16, 2007 during which she debuted several songs from her then yet to be released fourth studio album,
Courage
. The set began with a solo piano version of "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" which was replayed toward the end of the concert by the full band. Her performance was reviewed favorably in
The Boston Globe
on February 19, 2007.
[1]
In March 2007, her official previewed three new songs from
Courage
, which include "Comin' Down", "El Greco", and the album's first single entitled "14".
On July 10, 2007 Cole sang "
God Bless America" during the
seventh-inning stretch of the
2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
[2] [3] In August 2007, Cole toured with
Mandy Moore, playing mid-size venues in the western United States.
On June 17, 2008 she sang "
The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Boston.
[4] In August 2008, Cole toured to continue promoting her CD
Courage,
performing small venues like
Chicago's
Morton Arboretum. She is continuing her tour into 2009 with dates in February at Stone Mountain Center in
Maine and the Mayo Center in
New Jersey.
Discography
Albums
- Harbinger
(1994)
- This Fire
(1996) U.S. #20
- Amen
(1999) U.S. #97
- Greatest Hits: Postcards from East Oceanside
(2006)
- Courage
(2007) U.S. #163
Singles
| Year
| Single
| Chart Positions
[5] [6]
| Album
|
| U.S.
| U.S. AC
| U.S. Adult
| U.S. Modern Rock
| U.S. Dance
| UK Singles Chart [7]
| AUS
|
| 1997
| "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone"
| 8
| 27
| 4
| 32
| 10
| 15
| 32
| This Fire
|
| "I Don't Want to Wait"
| 11
| 3
| 9
| —
| 18
| 43
| 27
|
| 1998
| "Me"
| —
| —
| 17
| —
| —
| —
| —
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| 1999
| "I Believe in Love"
| 112
| —
| 22
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Amen
|
| "Be Somebody"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
| "Amen"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
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| 2006
| "The Loves We Lost" (with Tiësto as Allure)
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| In Search of Sunrise 4: Latin America
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| 2007
| "14"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Courage
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| "Comin Down"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
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| "God Bless the Child"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
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| August Rush
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| colspan="3" style="background: #FFF179;" |Awards and achievements titles
|- style="text-align: center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
LeAnn Rimes
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
1998
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"| Succeeded by
Lauryn Hill
|-
References
- Rodman, Sarah (February 19, 2007). "Returning to the limelight, Cole is as striking as ever". ''The Boston Globe'', Living/Arts [1]
- press release from MLB
- this article from Broadcast News
- http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/gallery/06_17_08_game_six_scene?pg=15
- Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Paula Cole
- australian-charts.com - Australian charts portal
- British Hit Singles & Albums