Paula Cole

Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968) 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. Her song "I Don't Want to Wait" was used as the theme song of the television show Dawson's Creek.

Not to be confused with Paula Cale.
Paula Cole
Cole performing in 2009
Background information
Born (1968-04-05) April 5, 1968
OriginRockport, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, piano, guitar, keyboard
Years active1992–present
Labels
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Cole was raised in Rockport, Massachusetts, United States; her mother, Stephanie Cole, a mixed media artist, was an elementary school art teacher, and her father, Jim Cole, was a professor of biology and ecology at Salem State College and played bass in the polka band "Johnny Prytko and The Connecticut Hi-Tones".[2][3]

She attended Rockport High School, where she was president of her senior class and performed in school theatrical productions such as South Pacific.[4] Cole then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied jazz singing and improvisation. She was offered a record deal by a jazz label, but decided to turn it down.[2]

Career

1993–1998: Harbinger and This Fire

Cole got her first big professional break when she was invited to perform on Peter Gabriel's 1993–94 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. She appeared with Melissa Etheridge to sing a duet on VH1 though she was not well known at the time.

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.

To replace Sinead O'Connor who left the tour, Cole joined the two last legs of Peter Gabriel's 1993–94 Secret World tour.[5][6] A video of the tour was released as Secret World Live, with Cole covering all the primary female vocals and featured in duets with Gabriel, especially the song "Don't Give Up" on which she sang the part that Kate Bush recorded with Gabriel in 1986. The film received the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video.[7] Cole was also the main female vocalist on Secret World Live, the audio album documenting the tour. The tour gave Cole international exposure as well as experience performing on a large stage.[8]

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. The Imago label folded and promotion of Harbinger was limited, affecting its sales. A single, "I Am So Ordinary", was released with a black and white video that reflected the album's artwork.

In late 1996, Cole released her second album on Warner Bros. Records, This Fire, which was entirely self-produced. The album's debut single, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", went to No. 8 on Billboard magazine's pop chart. The follow-up single "I Don't Want to Wait" reached No. 11, its popularity bolstered by its use as the theme song for the hit teen drama series Dawson's Creek which debuted over a year after the album.[9] The single "Me" (No. 35 Airplay chart) was also released as a radio-only single. The title "Hush, Hush, Hush", a duet with Peter Gabriel, talks about AIDS and about a young man dying in his father's comforting arms. "Feelin' Love" was a single that was included on the soundtrack to City of Angels.

Cole toured with Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair. Cole was nominated for several Grammy Awards in 1997. Among them was "Producer of the Year" (Cole was the third woman to ever be nominated in this category after Janet Jackson in 1990 and Mariah Carey in 1992); she did not win, but she did go on to win "Best New Artist" that same year.[10]

1999–2006: Amen, hiatus, and motherhood
Main article: Amen (Paula Cole album)

Cole took a hiatus to raise 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 Jonathan Peters into a successful dance song. The song "Amen" was featured and performed by Paula and the band at P3 on the hit TV show Charmed in 2000. The album which had guest appearances by DJ Premier and long-time Cole fan Tionne Watkins featured some R&B and hip-hop influences but failed to match the success of This Fire. A fourth album was recorded with Hugh Padgham 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 song protesting President Bush and the Iraq War titled "My Hero, Mr. President!", which she posted publicly on her website.[11][12]

2007–2013: Courage, Ithaca, and Raven

Cole returned in June 2007 with her fourth studio album Courage, which was released on Decca Records and produced by Bobby Colomby at the Capitol Studios in Hollywood.

Cole's fifth studio album, Ithaca, was released September 21, 2010. She wrote and co-produced all of the songs on the album. Cole says it "represents that inner fortitude and the journey I've been on."[13]

Raven is Cole's sixth studio album. It was funded by a Kickstarter campaign which ran from September 22, 2012 to October 29, 2012 and raised $75,258.[14] The album was released on April 23, 2013 on her 675 label. Cole wrote the 11 songs on the album including two from early in her career, "Imaginary Man" and "Manitoba". Her mother had saved these songs on cassette tapes.[15] Most of the album was recorded in one week at a barn in Massachusetts. The musicians included co-producer/drummer Ben Wittman, guitarist Kevin Barry and bassist Tony Levin. She has worked with Wittman and Barry since she was 19.[15]

2014–2018: 7, This Bright Red Feeling, and Ballads

7 is Cole's seventh studio album released on March 23, 2015 via Cole's official Website/store and to other digital music outlets on April 10, 2015. In Cole's words, it is

"a collection of songs that came suddenly and urgently. The songs demanded to be written and released, as if my subconscious needed to reach out to me; to tell me what it thought about all I was going through. I recorded this album live, as an acoustic quartet. It sounds like a soft, soulful album made in the 1960s and the songs speak for themselves."[16]

Cole announced that she was selling her new live album This Bright Red Feeling exclusively on CD at live shows and at her website, with intentions to put it online for digital sale soon. The album is a recording of her live New York City show on May 1, 2016 but also includes re-recordings of two of her biggest commercial hits. The album's title comes from a lyric from her song Tiger.

Cole announced a new Kickstarter project on June 16, 2016 for a covers studio album, Ballads. It raised $76,899. The album was released on August 11, 2017.[17] The first single, a cover of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child", was released on June 1.[18]

2019: Revolution

Paula Cole released her ninth studio album, Revolution, on September 13, 2019 on 675 Records.[19]

Other activities

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.[20] In March 2007, her official "Paula Cole". MySpace. previewed three new songs from Courage, which include "Comin' Down", "El Greco", and the album's first single entitled "14".

Cole is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and worked with them on a radio PSA [21]

On July 10, 2007 Cole sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch of the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[22] 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.[23] In August 2008 and 2009, Cole continued to tour and promote her CD Courage.

Since 2013, Cole has been on the voice faculty at Berklee College of Music while continuing an active performing career.

Personal life

In June 2002, Cole married fellow musician Hassan Hakmoun, whom she had met on the Peter Gabriel “Secret World Live” tour in 1994.[24] The couple divorced in 2007. They have one daughter, Sky, who was born in 2002.[25]

Discography

Studio albums

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
[26]		 US AC
[27]		 US Adult
[28][29]		 US
Alt
[30]		 US
Dance
[31]		 US Pop
[32]		 AUS
[33]		 CAN
[34]		 UK
[35]
1994 "I Am So Ordinary" — — — — — — — 42 — Harbinger
1997 "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" 8 27 4 32 10 5 32 7 15 This Fire
"I Don't Want to Wait" 11 3 1 — — 5 27 5 43
1998 "Me" — — 17 — — 25 — 20 —
1999 "I Believe in Love" — — 22 — 18 39 — 37 — Amen
2000 "Be Somebody" — — — — — — — — —
"Amen" — — — — — — — — —
2007 "14" — — — — — — — — — Courage
"Comin' Down" — — — — — — — — —
2010 "Music in Me" — — — — — — — — — Ithaca
2013 "Eloise" — — — — — — — — — Raven
2017 "God Bless the Child" — — — — — — — — — Ballads
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Nominated work Result
1997 Billboard Music Awards Top Adult Top 40 Artist Paula Cole Nominated
Billboard Music Video Awards FAN.tastic Video "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Female Video Nominated
1998 40th Grammy Awards Record of the Year Nominated
Song of the Year Nominated
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Nominated
Album of the Year This Fire Nominated
Best Pop Vocal Album Nominated
Best New Artist Paula Cole Won
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical Nominated
Boston Music Awards Act of the Year Won
Outstanding Female Vocalist Won
Single of the Year "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" Won
Outstanding Song/Songwriter "I Don't Want To Wait" Won
1999 Act of the Year Paula Cole Nominated
BMI Pop Awards Award-Winning Song "I Don't Want to Wait" Won

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Paula Cole | Biography". AllMusic.
  2. "Paula Cole". Northshore Magazine. July 10, 2010. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011.
  3. Bialas, Michael (April 16, 2013). "Kickstarting Over: Paula Cole Prepares Raven for Takeoff". Huffington Post.
  4. McCarthy, Gail (August 8, 2010). "Paula's homecoming: Rockport's Cole wows sold-out crowds". Gloucester Times.
  5. "Paula Cole Biography". Sing365.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  6. "Paula Cole". NNDB Mapper. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  7. "Peter Gabriel's Secret World – Awards". IMDb.
  8. "Paula Cole Picks Up Tips From Peter Gabriel". MTV. April 9, 1997. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  9. "Paula Cole: Then | '90s Alternative Girls: Then & Now". Xfinity. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.
  10. Considine, J.D. (February 10, 1998). "Don't Fence Her In Singer Paula Cole and "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" have been branded as anti-feminist. Ain't so, ma'am. You can do the dishes, while she goes to get her Grammys". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  11. The song is available at:
    Cole discussed it in subsequent blog posts:
  12. Wiemann, Dirk (2004). "Off the Record: Pop Music and the War on Iraq". In Angermüller, Johannes; Wiemann, Dirk; Kollmorgen, Raj; Meyer, Jörg (eds.). Reflexive Representations: Politics, Hegemony, and Discourse in Global Capitalism. LIT Verlag. pp. 111–112. ISBN 9783825872380.
  13. McLaughlin, Moira E. (October 16, 2009). "With a balanced life, Cole is ready to return to the spotlight". Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
  14. "Paula Cole: New Independent Album, "Raven"". KickStarter.
  15. Bialas, Michael (April 21, 2013). "Paula Cole on Releasing Raven, Parental Guidance and 'Lilith UnFair'". No Depression. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  16. Simmons, Christopher (2015-03-22). "Paula Cole announces new album release, '7' – a soft and soulful review of a 7 year life cycle". Musewire. Neotrope. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  17. Betts, Stephen L. (July 7, 2017). "Hear Paula Cole's Swampy Cover of Bobbie Gentry's 'Ode to Billie Joe'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  18. Bell, Sadie (June 1, 2017). "Paula Cole Covers Billie Holiday's 'God Bless the Child': Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  19. Donovan, Charles (September 13, 2019). "Paula Cole's 'Revolution' Is As Fresh and Vibrant As a Debut Album". PopMatters.com. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  20. Rodman, Sarah (February 19, 2007). "Returning to the limelight, Cole is as striking as ever". Living/Arts. The Boston Globe.
  21. "Radio - Artists Against Racism". Artistsagainstracism.org. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  22. "Musical performers announced for Major League Baseball All-Star Week". MLB.com. July 6, 2007.
  23. "Celtics win NBA title: Game 6 scene at the Garden". The Boston Globe. June 17, 2008.
  24. "Marrying a Moroccan sound to the worlds music". NY TIMES. August 11, 2002.
  25. "Paula Cole Looks back". billboard.com. January 19, 2018.
  26. "Paula Cole Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  27. "Paula Cole Chart History – Adult Contemporary". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  28. "Paula Cole Chart History – Adult Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  29. "Paula Cole | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  30. "Paula Cole Chart History – Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  31. "Paula Cole Chart History – Dance Club Songs". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  32. "Paula Cole Chart History – Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  33. "aAustralian charts portal | Paula Cole". ustralian-charts.com. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  34. "RPM search results – Paula Cole Singles". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  35. "Chart Log UK: Chris C- CZR". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
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