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Mining Cole
Read some of what Paula Cole—and her manager/producer Bobby Colomby—said during Cole's recent visiting artist clinic.
By Lesley Mahoney
Berklee.edu correspondent
February 27, 2007
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| Paula Cole |
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| Photo by Phil Farnsworth |
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On publication rights:
"Never sell your publishing if you don't have to. I did. I sold a quarter of my publishing for less than a Cadillac. And it helped me, I suppose, if I look at it spiritually, holistically. I was able to stop my bakery job and write."
On protecting your instrument:
"This little, fleshy pink larynx that we're all using right now, it's like your little Stradivarius. It's really important and it's like millions of dollars right here and you've got to treat it really, really well. Over 90 percent of all vocal problems stem from dryness. You've got to drink, drink, drink and pee, pee, pee."
"One of the greatest singers ever, Julie Andrews, was coaxed into laryngeal surgery by some overzealous physician. If you become a professional singer, never, never let anyone take a knife to your larynx because you just don't know what you're going to come out with on the other side. So, always favor vocal rest."
On artists who inspired her:
"I remember being in high school, in ninth grade, and I heard Annie Lennox coming out of the radio and she was singing her first single ever from the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. I just stopped and I thought I heard my destiny or something. I heard me because it was a woman's voice with body and tone. A bit, fat, soulful voice. And she was, of course, influenced by Aretha [Franklin]. Aretha was a huge influence, really her early work . . . and Joni Mitchell, because of Joni's breadth as a thinker.
"Dolly Parton, more as a writer. Vocally, Nat King Cole and Stevie Wonder."
On collaborating:
"Songwriting changes. It's fluid. Before, it was largely a hermetic process, but on this last album, I opened it up and started cowriting for the first time in my life. I was scared. It was a fear-based thing. That was what was keeping me away from it. I was scared of being criticized, challenged. But it actually really expanded the music and made it not so precious about it. It made be better."
On the Berklee experience:
"I got rejected from Singers Showcase. Rejected once or twice, and then I was accepted. And there were some incredible singers here at that time. My first time I ever sang on the stage was when I sang a solo with the gospel choir. I joined the gospel choir my first semester here. I just wanted to sing and sing and sing. I did a lot of ensembles… I was in a cappella tight jazz harmony quartets.…"
"Bob Stoloff [assistant chair, Voice Department], of course, brought me to Berklee and he started me in the 'real book.' Even doing crazy things like vocal drums and just paying attention to different instruments."
"I struggled with my self-confidence a lot, so I needed positivity and there were teachers here—Bob Stoloff, Steve Prosser [chair, Ear Training Department]—they acknowledged me. They saw me. I really needed that."
On sexism in the music industry:
"I just operate as a human being and see us as human beings. If they're limiting me because I happen to inhabit a female genetic pod, then I'm not going to work with them and I'm not going to enjoy that."
"If we can be in a man's world, and show them respect and be a hard worker, and not be the stereotype, like a female singer who doesn't know music, can't use the vocabulary of music, is music illiterate and just sings. I wasn't going to be that. I was going to be smart, speak the language and relate."
Columby's Commentary
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Producer/manager Bobby Colomby |
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Photo by Phil Farnsworth |
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Cole's producer and manager Bobby Colomby offered some practical advice on surviving in the music industry. Cole credits Colomby, founder and drummer for Blood, Sweat, and Tears, for her comeback after a seven-year hiatus.
On the state of the music industry:
"I've been in the music business as a record company executive and as a producer for a really long time and it is a completely different business. Whatever was going on before, ain't going on now. The one thing that has not diminished is that people still love music. And the business is emulsifying . . . That can be daunting. . . . On the other hand, it's the greatest opportunity you'll ever have because it's going to recognize individuality."
"I would like to see an opportunity for real talent to emerge. The business is now so visually oriented, that a person who is not physically beautiful has a real problem."
"People in the business of music really underestimate who the consumer is, because it's a music lover, someone who has passion."
On valuable advice his brother gave him:
"He said, 'Imagine a blackboard with a lot of dots and a couple of dots. Do you want to be in the longest line and do whatever everyone else is doing? Or, you can be on the shorter line and you'll get recognized.' . . . If you want a career and you're doing it because you want to be rich, bad idea. That's the longest line in the world. Get to the short line. Do it for the right reasons."
On maintaining individuality:
"In order to have a voice, you have to tell your story, you have to get your influences and combine them up in a mixer and then add your personality and psyche to that combination."
Three things that saved the music business after it collapsed in 1979:
CDs, MTV, and Michael Jackson
On marketing yourself:
"Mick Jagger, Madonna, they get who they are. Marketing-wise, they are brilliant. They figured out who they were, their image and played it for 20, 30, 40 years. So, you have to have a little smarts. The genius comes from you. The smartest marketing moves come from you."
On following your dreams:
"The only thing I can recommend is when you get out of school, do whatever you love. Do what makes you happy because the odds are, you'll be good at it. Follow your instincts, whatever you think you'd enjoy. Combine your interests."
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