  Paula Cole was born in the small
rural town of Rockport, MA to a family
already dabbling in music and the arts. She
graduated from the prestigious Berklee
College of Music after studying jazz singing
and improvisation and went on to pursue a
career as a musician.
Paula got her first taste of
success with the invitation to perform in Peter
Gabriel's Secret World tour.
 Paula released her debut LP, Harbinger with Imago
Records. Unfortunately, the record company
went out of business resulting in little
promotion for Paula's debut. The following
year Paula joined Warner Brothers.
Paula's second LP, This
Fire, was released, with herself as
the producer. Within a year, the track "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?" was heard all over the
radio and became a #1 pop hit.
 Paula reflected on her growing
popularity with Scene Magazine: On
the comparisons of her music to other female
artists such as Kate Bush and Tori
Amos: "Maybe it's just because
we're women, we're passionate about what we
do and we're all strong singers who sing
about personal issues..." On her LP, This
Fire: "I really wanted to make
a stark and risky statement, more about
performance and 'in the moment' passion and
emotion. It's not as naive and much more
brazen. I felt more comfortable with myself,
under my own skin, and I was able to take
those risks because I believed in myself
more." Entertainment
Weekly called Paula "...a feisty
poet with a soaring voice and a funky
groove..."
Paula performed for U.S. troops
in the Middle East right before the Christmas
holiday.
 # 7
Singles Artist of the Year
 Paula hit the Top 40 with "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?"
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?"
This
Fire was certified gold.
Paula hit #1 with "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?" for 3 weeks.
Paula continued to promote her
LP throughout 1997 with live performances on
VH-1's Hard Rock Live and PBS's Sessions
At West 54th.
Her participation in the highly
successful Lilith Fair tour also increased
her popularity and help record sales.
 Paula hit the Top 40 with "I Don't Want To Wait."
Paula was nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Female Video ("Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?").
This
Fire was certified platinum.
Paula hit the Top 10 with "I Don't Want To Wait."
 # 33
Singles Artist of the Year
Paula's music can also be heard
on the live LP, Live
On Letterman and the soundtrack to Midnight
In The Garden Of Good And Evil with "Autumn
Leaves."
Paula won a Grammy
Award for Best New
Artist and was also nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album (This
Fire), Record of the Year, Song of
the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance ("Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?"), and Producer of the
Year (the first woman ever nominated in this
category). Although she might be remembered
for her win as Best New Artist, Paula also
might be remembered for "giving the
finger" during her performance of "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?" But the offending gesture
was actually part of the act and a
spokesperson for Cole's record label said the
gesture was "part of the satire (of the
song) where the woman is at home while the
guy's out having a beer."
She also hit the Top 40 with
"Me."
This
Fire was certified 2x platinum.
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Me."
Paula told Rolling
Stone: "My life has changed so
dramatically. It's really bizarre and
abnormal. I miss my parents. And there's no
time. I mean, I had to pee in a cup the other
day."
 Cole talked with CNN about
Lilith Fair: "There was a vacancy an a
need for women to support each other in
music, in business, in life... It's a musical
tour, first and foremost, but at the same
time, there are amazing benefits that are
coming out of this that are very
feminist-inspired. Just the fact that we have
proven to the industry... to a very
male-dominated industry, that women are and
can be very successful and are doing very
well on their own, thank you very much, and
we don't have to have men backing us up or
men opening for us." Cole spent part of
the summer travelling with the Horde Tour and
will be playing again with the Lilith Fair
when the tour hits Canada.
Paula won 4 Boston Music Awards
for Act of the Year, Outstanding Female
Vocalist, Outstanding Song/Songwriter ("I Don't Want To Wait"), and Single of
the Year ("Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?").
 # 81
Singles Artist of the Year
Paula was nominated for a Boston
Music Award for Act of the Year. Paula
returned to the studio to record her
anticipated follow-up LP to the
Grammy-winning, This
Fire.
 Amen was released.
Paul hit the Top 40 with "I
Believe In Love."
Paula played a benefit for hand
gun control in L.A. - the result of her song
"Be Somebody" which Cole didn't
write for the cause but feels "...it
works out to be a perfect gun control
song...America is just so violent. You see
that when you leave it. It's just such a
problem now," she continues. "I
understand that it is in the constitution
because they never wanted the government to
be too powerful. They wanted the ordinary
citizen to have the ability to revolutionize
the government and that's a really noble
principle. But, wow, things have gone
awry."
 # 235 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
Paula released Greatest
Hits - Postcards From East Oceanside with 2 new tracks
"Tomorrow I Will Be Yours" and
"Postcards From East Oceanside."
Paula released Courage.
VH1: 100
Greatest Songs of the 90's included "I Don't Want To Wait" at # 81.
Paula released Ithaca.
  
 Paula released Raven.
|
Harbinger
Released: October, 1995
Tracks: "Happy
Home" - "I Am So Ordinary"
- "Saturn Girl" - "Watch
The Woman's Hands" -
"Bethlehem" -
"Chiaroscruro" - "Black
Boots" - "Oh John" -
"Our Revenge" - "Dear
Gertrude" - "Hitler's
Brothers" - "She Can't Feel
Anything Anymore" - "Garden Of
Eden" - "The Ladder" |
iTunes
Amazon.mp3 |
This Fire
Released: October, 1996
US: 2x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 20
Tracks: "Tiger"
- "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?" - "Throwing
Stones" - "Carmen" -
"Mississippi" -
"Nietzsche's Eyes" - "Road
To Dead" - "Me"
- "Feelin' Love" - "Hush,
Hush, Hush" - "I Don't Want To
Wait" |
|
Amen
Released: September , 1999
Billboard
peak:
# 97
Rolling Stone
review: 
Tracks: "I Believe In Love" -
"Amen" - "a Tonya" -
"Pearl" - "Be
Somebody" - "Rhythm Of
Life" - "Free" -
"Suwannee Jo" - "God Is
Watching" |
|
Greatest Hits -
Postcards From East Oceanside
Released: June, 2006
Tracks: "I Am So
Ordinary" - "Me"
- "I Believe In Love" - "Where Have All The
Cowboys Gone?" - "Amen" -
"Feelin' Love" - "I Don't Want To
Wait" - "God Is
Watching" - "Carmen" -
"Happy Home" - "Autumn
Leaves" - "Saturn Girl" -
"Hush, Hush, Hush" -
"Bethlehem" - "Tomorrow I
Will Be Yours" - "Postcards
From East Oceanside" |
|
Courage
Released: June, 2007
Billboard
peak:
# 163
Tracks: "Comin'
Down" - "Love Light
(Cardinal)" - "El Greco" -
"Lonely Town" - "14"
- "Hard To Be Soft" -
"It's My Life" - "Safe In
Your Arms" - "I Wanna Kiss
You" - "In Our Dreams" -
"Until I Met You" |
|
Ithaca
Released: September, 2010
Tracks: "The Hard
Way" - "Waiting On A
Miracle" - "Music In Me" -
"Elegy" - "Come On
Inside" - "P.R.E.N.U.P." -
"Violet Eyes" - "Somethin'
I've Gotta Say" - "Sex" -
"2 Lifetimes" |
|
Raven
Released: April 23, 2013
Tracks: "Life Goes
On" - "Strong Beautiful
Woman" - "Eloise" -
"Sorrow-On-The-Hudson" -
"Manitoba" - "Imaginary
Man" - "Billy Joe" -
"Secretary" - "Why Don't
You Go?" - "Red Corsette" |
iTunes
Amazon.mp3 |
Revolution
Released: September 13,
2019
Tracks: "Intro:
Revolution (State Of Mind)" -
"Shake The Sky" - "Blues
In Gray" - "Silent" -
"Go On" - "All Or
Nothing" - "7 Deadly Sins"
- "The Ecology (Mercy Mercy
Me)" - "Undertow (One Life
Lost)" - "Universal
Emptahy" - "Dhammapada" |
iTunes
Amazon.mp3
vinyl |
American Quilt
Released: May 21, 2021
Tracks: "Wayfaring
Stranger" - "Black Mountain
Blues" - "You Don't Know What
Love Is" - "God's Gonna Cut You
Down" - "Shenandoah" -
"Nobody Knows You (When You're Down
And Out)" - "Good Morning
Heartache" - "Bye Bye
Blackbird" - "Steal Away /
Hidden In Plain Sight" - "What
A Wonderful World" |
| Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound
samples). |
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