Alum

Paula Cole

Position
Visiting Scholar in Performance Studies
Affiliated Departments
Telephone
617-747-6419

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Grammy-winning artst Paula Cole has released seven solo albums of original songs. Cole has performed with icons in many genres of music, from Peter Gabriel to Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock to Emmylou Harris, and Amy Lee of Evanescence to Burt Bacharach. Cole’s emotionally deep performances and her poetic, intelligent writing makes her stand out from the masses of contemporary music. Her compositions have been covered by a diverse range of artists—including Hancock, Annie Lennox, Katherine McPhee, and JoJo—and she has sold approximately 3 million albums. As the first woman in history to solely produce and receive the Best Producer Grammy nomination for her album This Fire, Cole has broken boundaries with a searcher’s spirit. From her top 10 hits of the 1990s to her more recent, critically acclaimed albums, Cole continues to write, produce, record, and perform heartfelt, meaningful, lasting music that defies categorization.

Career Highlights
  • Earned first major career break when Peter Gabriel invited her to join his world tour in 1992
  • Released debut album in 1994
  • Cole's 1996 second release, the self-produced, double-platinum album, This Fire, featured two breakout hits, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait”
  • This Fire earned seven Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Awards
  • Grammy Award for Best New Artist (1997)
Education
  • B.M., Berklee College of Music