Paula Cole

Biography

Paula Dorothy Cole (born April 5, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter. After gaining attention for her performances as a vocalist on Peter Gabriel's 1993–1994 Secret World Tour, she released her first album, Harbinger×Harbinger19 July 1994 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Happy Home4:462I Am So Ordinary4:153Saturn Girl4:184Watch the Woman's Hands4:225Bethlehem4:396Chiaroscuro5:097Black Boots2:298Oh John4:309Our Revenge3:4310Dear Gertrude4:1311Hitler's Brothers3:3612She Can’t Feel Anything Anymore4:0213Garden of Eden4:3214The Ladder3:46, which suffered from a lack of promotion when the label, Imago Records, folded shortly after its release. Her second album, This Fire×This Fire15 October 1996 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Tiger4:192Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?4:273Throwing Stones3:474Carmen3:455Mississippi5:076Nietzsche’s Eyes5:337Road to Dead3:418ME5:039Feelin’ Love5:3810hush, hush, hush.4:2211I Don’t Want to Wait5:19 (1996), brought her worldwide acclaim, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard 200 album chart and producing two hit singles, the triple-Grammy nominated "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?×Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (edit)3:482Hush, Hush, Hush (album version)4:23", which reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and "I Don't Want to Wait×I Don't Want to Wait1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1I Don't Want to Wait5:192Bethlehem4:393Hitler's Brothers3:33", which was used as the theme song of the television show Dawson's Creek. Cole was a featured performer in the 1996 prototype mini-tour for Lilith Fair, and also was a headliner for Lilith Fair in 1997 and 1998. She won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1998, and that same year became the first woman to be nominated for "Producer of the Year" without a male collaborator.
Her third album, 1999's Amen, marked a major stylistic departure for Cole, and this alienated many of her former fans; the album sales were disappointing compared to the multi-Platinum sales of her prior effort. She has since released several more albums including the jazz-influenced Courage×Courage12 June 2007 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Comin’ Down4:022Lovelight4:583El Greco4:404Lonelytown4:405143:396Hard to Be Soft4:537It’s My Life5:328Safe in Your Arms4:579I Wanna Kiss You5:0610In Our Dreams4:1711Until I Met You5:04 (2007), and Ithaca×Ithaca21 September 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1The Hard Way6:052Waiting on a Miracle5:033Music in Me4:024Elegy4:505Come on Inside4:546P.R.E.N.U.P.2:537Violet Eyes4:398Somethin' I've Gotta Say4:279Sex8:1010Lifetimes3:25 (2010) which marked a return to her 1990s folk-rock sound. She released Lo in 2024. Cole's music sometimes addresses social issues such as gender stereotypes, environmental issues, the history of slavery in the United States, and the Iraq war. Besides recording and performing, Cole has also served on the faculty at Berklee College of Music since 2013.

Early life

Cole was raised in Rockport, Massachusetts. Her mother, Stephanie Cole, a mixed media artist, was an elementary school art teacher; 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". Her older sister Irene played piano. She has stated she has Irish, Italian and Polish ancestry.
She attended Rockport High School, where she was president of her senior class and performed in school theatrical productions such as South Pacific. Cole then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied jazz singing and improvisation with Bob Stoloff. She sang jazz standards at lounges and nightclubs. One of the school projects was with Vox One, a chorus group at Berklee that later turned to pro as well. She was offered a record deal by the jazz label GRP Records, but decided to turn it down.
After graduating Berklee, she moved to San Francisco and began working on song ideas. She lived with three roommates and ate meagerly, building up her home studio and writing down song ideas including one that later became "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?×Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (edit)3:482Hush, Hush, Hush (album version)4:23" Impressing label president Terry Ellis with her demo performances, she signed with his Imago Records in 1992, and was coached by veteran artist's manager John Carter on the album project that would become Harbinger×Harbinger19 July 1994 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Happy Home4:462I Am So Ordinary4:153Saturn Girl4:184Watch the Woman's Hands4:225Bethlehem4:396Chiaroscuro5:097Black Boots2:298Oh John4:309Our Revenge3:4310Dear Gertrude4:1311Hitler's Brothers3:3612She Can’t Feel Anything Anymore4:0213Garden of Eden4:3214The Ladder3:46.

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 Tour. To replace Sinéad O'Connor who left the tour, Gabriel sought Cole on the recommendation of his studio engineer Kevin Killen. Gabriel left an answering machine message for her at her apartment in San Francisco, and she immediately flew to Mannheim, Germany, for her only rehearsal with Gabriel, shortly before performing in front of 16,000 people.
Cole joined the two last legs of Peter Gabriel's 1993–94 Secret World tour. A video of the concert was shot just days after Cole joined the tour. The video was released as Secret World Live, with Cole covering all the primary female vocals and featured in duets with Gabriel, especially the songs "Don't Give Up" on which she sang the part that Kate Bush recorded with Gabriel in 1986, and "Blood of Eden" recorded by Gabriel and Sinéad O'Connor in 1992. The film received the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. 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. Her performance earned high praise: in a retrospective review, PopMatters wrote that Cole was "one of the real stars" on the tour, that she easily handled Kate Bush's parts, and that she was "maybe a superior vocalist" to Sinéad O'Connor.
Shortly after the tour, Cole released her first album Harbinger×Harbinger19 July 1994 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Happy Home4:462I Am So Ordinary4:153Saturn Girl4:184Watch the Woman's Hands4:225Bethlehem4:396Chiaroscuro5:097Black Boots2:298Oh John4:309Our Revenge3:4310Dear Gertrude4:1311Hitler's Brothers3:3612She Can’t Feel Anything Anymore4:0213Garden of Eden4:3214The Ladder3:46 in 1994. She appeared with Melissa Etheridge to sing a duet on VH1. Imago Records went out of business a few months after the album came out. In 1995, Cole signed on to Warner Bros. Records. Warner reissued Harbinger in the autumn of 1995.
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. Imago Records folded and promotion of Harbinger was limited, affecting its sales. A single, "I Am So Ordinary×I Am So Ordinary13 June 1994 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1I Am So Ordinary4:142Hitler's Brothers3:333Last November (demo)4:58", was released with a black-and-white video that reflected the album's artwork.
In late 1996, Cole released her second album on Warner, This Fire×This Fire15 October 1996 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Tiger4:192Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?4:273Throwing Stones3:474Carmen3:455Mississippi5:076Nietzsche’s Eyes5:337Road to Dead3:418ME5:039Feelin’ Love5:3810hush, hush, hush.4:2211I Don’t Want to Wait5:19, which was entirely self-produced. The album's debut single, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?×Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (edit)3:482Hush, Hush, Hush (album version)4:23", went to No. 8 on Billboard magazine's pop chart. The follow-up single "I Don't Want to Wait×I Don't Want to Wait1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1I Don't Want to Wait5:192Bethlehem4:393Hitler's Brothers3:33" 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. 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.
In 1996, Cole, along with Sarah McLachlan, Suzanne Vega, Lisa Loeb and others, was a featured performer in a four show mini-tour that served as a prototype for what would become the Lilith Fair tour. She was also a headliner for the Lilith Fair tours in 1997 and 1998. She 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, but the first as a solo nomination); she did not win, but she did go on to win "Best New Artist" that same year.

1999–2006: Amen, hiatus, and motherhood

In 1999, Cole released her third album, Amen, which she described as a sociopolitical and spiritual album. The album was received well by critics but was not a commercial success. Following the release of Amen, Cole took a seven-year hiatus to care for her daughter.
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 heard. 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 on her website.

2007–2013: Courage, Ithaca, and Raven

Cole returned in June 2007 with her fourth studio album, Courage×Courage12 June 2007 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Comin’ Down4:022Lovelight4:583El Greco4:404Lonelytown4:405143:396Hard to Be Soft4:537It’s My Life5:328Safe in Your Arms4:579I Wanna Kiss You5:0610In Our Dreams4:1711Until I Met You5:04, which was released on Decca Records and produced by Bobby Colomby at Capitol Studios.
Cole's fifth studio album, Ithaca×Ithaca21 September 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1The Hard Way6:052Waiting on a Miracle5:033Music in Me4:024Elegy4:505Come on Inside4:546P.R.E.N.U.P.2:537Violet Eyes4:398Somethin' I've Gotta Say4:279Sex8:1010Lifetimes3:25, 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."
Raven, Cole's sixth studio album, was funded by a Kickstarter campaign which ran from September 22 to October 29, 2012, and raised $75,258. 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. 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.

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

7 is Cole's seventh studio album, released on March 23, 2015, via Cole's website 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."
Cole announced that she was selling her new live album This Bright Red Feeling×This Bright Red Feeling26 July 2016 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Tiger4:312Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?5:213Carmen4:394Nietzsche's Eyes5:245Me5:566Feelin' Love6:047Hush, Hush, Hush5:518I Don't Want To Wait5:529The Ballad Of Hollis Brown7:2010Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? (Artist's 20th Anniversay Edition)4:2911I Don't Want To Wait (Artist's 20th Anniversay Edition)4:55 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×Ballads11 August 2017 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1God Bless the Child5:122I Wish (I Knew How It Feels to Be Free)3:403Naima3:504Ode to Billy Joe4:495You've Changed4:476What a Little Moonlight Can Do2:287I'm Old Fashioned2:508The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll6:359Never Will I Marry2:2110Skylark3:3811The Ballad of Hollis Brown7:4012Body and Soul3:4413Nice Work If You Can Get It2:2214Farewell, My Friends3:0715I Cover the Waterfront3:5316Blue Moon3:0017You Hit the Spot1:5018Willow Weep for Me4:1419Autumn Leaves2:1620My One and Only Love3:26. It raised $76,899. The album was released on August 11, 2017. The first single, a cover of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child", was released on June 1. The album hit No. 9 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Album Chart.

2019–2021: Revolution, American Quilt

Paula Cole released her ninth studio album, Revolution×Revolution13 September 2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Intro: Revolution (Is A State Of Mind)4:172Shake The Sky3:593Blues In Gray3:504Silent8:255Go On5:586All Or Nothing4:2977 Deadly Sins5:088The Ecology (Mercy Mercy Me)5:159Undertow (One Life Lost)5:0110Universal Empathy6:5811Dhammapada2:22, on September 13, 2019, on 675 Records.
In 2021, Cole released the album American Quilt×American Quilt21 May 2021 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1You Don't Know What Love Is5:582God's Gonna Cut You Down2:553Wayfaring Stranger4:364Shenandoah7:405Black Mountain Blues5:086Good Morning Heartache4:217Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)3:098Bye Bye Blackbird4:289Steal Away / Hidden in Plain Sight7:5510What a Wonderful World2:55.

2024–present: Lo

Cole released her 11th studio album, Lo, on March 1, 2024. The track "The Replacements & Dinosaur Jr." is a tribute to her late friend and mentor, Mark Hutchins.
In 2025, Cole appeared as herself in the documentary film Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story, reflecting on the legacy and impact of the all-female music festival.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of her breakout album, This Fire×This Fire15 October 1996 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Tiger4:192Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?4:273Throwing Stones3:474Carmen3:455Mississippi5:076Nietzsche’s Eyes5:337Road to Dead3:418ME5:039Feelin’ Love5:3810hush, hush, hush.4:2211I Don’t Want to Wait5:19, Cole announced she would be touring in fall 2026 in the US, continuing in spring 2027 in Europe and performing the album in its entirety.

Social commentary

Cole said her 1996 song "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?×Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (edit)3:482Hush, Hush, Hush (album version)4:23" was intended as a commentary on gender stereotypes, but the feminist message was misinterpreted by many listeners who did not realize the song was intended to be satirical. In 2003, Cole recorded a song called "My Hero, Mr. President" that she released for free download, which was critical of President George W. Bush and America's involvement in the Iraq War. Robert Morast of the Argus Leader reported that Cole was the first "bona fide mainstream musician" to take a public stance against the Iraq war.
On her 2019 album Revolution×Revolution13 September 2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Intro: Revolution (Is A State Of Mind)4:172Shake The Sky3:593Blues In Gray3:504Silent8:255Go On5:586All Or Nothing4:2977 Deadly Sins5:088The Ecology (Mercy Mercy Me)5:159Undertow (One Life Lost)5:0110Universal Empathy6:5811Dhammapada2:22, Cole covered a version of the Marvin Gaye song "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" which she said was about "planetary health". Cole told Billboard Magazine that while love songs matter, there should also be songs about important societal issues. Cole's song "Silent", also on the album Revolution, is about her experience of being sexually assaulted early in her career and her refusal to continue to be silent about the experience. In May 2021, Cole told USA Today that her song "Hidden in Plain Sight" addressed the "shameful history of slavery."

Other activities

In August 2007, Cole toured the United States with Mandy Moore.
On June 17, 2008, she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Boston. In August 2008 and 2009, Cole continued to tour and promote her CD Courage.
In 2013, Cole joined the voice faculty at Berklee College of Music as a visiting scholar.
In 2022, Cole collaborated with Jason Isbell and John Paul White on the song “Mother, Son and Holy Ghost.”
In 2024, Cole competed in season 12 of The Masked Singer as "Ship" in which she briefly rode a ship-like vehicle in the first appearance, and had Jewel (who won season six as "Queen of Hearts") as her Mask Ambassador. She was eliminated in the Group A finals alongside Marsai Martin as "Woodpecker" and did an encore of "I Don't Want to Wait×I Don't Want to Wait1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1I Don't Want to Wait5:192Bethlehem4:393Hitler's Brothers3:33".

Personal life

In June 2002, Cole married Moroccan musician Hassan Hakmoun, whom she had met on the Secret World Tour in 1994. The couple divorced in 2007. They have one daughter, born in 2001. Cole is openly bisexual and came out in 2022.

Studio albums

Harbinger (1994)
This Fire (1996)
Amen (1999)
Courage (2007)
Ithaca (2010)
Raven (2013)
7 (2015)
Ballads (2017)
Revolution (2019)
American Quilt (2021)
Lo (2024)

Compilation

Greatest Hits: Postcards from East Oceanside (2006)
Sonic Memoir, Vol. I-II (Demos 1989-1998) (2026)