There is an intelligence and sophistication to Holly Cole...

There is an intelligence and sophistication to Holly Cole’s singing that sets her apart. She can imbue well-worn standards and eclectic songs with an uncanny combination of sensuality, innocence, originality and sheer musicality. Cole takes tunes everybody thinks they know and discovers new undercurrents in the venerable anthems of contemporary composers, wrapping her honesty, compassion and sardonic wit around their sometimes-fragile creations. The results are sexy, provocative, spellbinding, sometimes dangerous- and never, ever dull. “I look at the essence of a song,” muses Holly Cole. “If it’s a great lyric I often love to slow it down, explore it, dissect it and deconstruct it. I love to take it apart and then put it back together and look at it in an entirely different way. In the process, it often becomes more evocative. That’s a huge part of my art form, that’s a huge part of what I do.”

Another thing that has become a large part of what she does is Christmas and like mistletoe and brightly wrapped presents, Coles symphony tour of Canada in November and December has become a holiday tradition. She has two Christmas recordings, her first the ep “Christmas Blues” and the full recording “Baby its Cold outside.” Holly Cole has been staking her own substantive claim to this repertoire for most of the past twelve years. Beginning with her self-produced Christmas Blues EP in November 1989, Cole has charted a career that has included seven albums, six of them gold and platinum, a couple of anthologies, the aforementioned EP, a gold album in Japan for her 1993 album “Blame It On My Youth”, several television specials and some of the finest and most engaging vocal work in the world of contemporary pop. Her last release was 2004’s “The Holly Cole Collections, Vol. 1” CD which is a career retrospective featuring a collection of her audiences favourite songs.

It was met with great success. Born and raised in the Maritimes, Cole grew up surrounded by music; her parents are classical players, her brother is a composer and jazz artist, her uncle sang and acted on Broadway and her grandfather played C & W accordion. In her youth she listened to everything from Broadway Musicals, Country and Western and Classical to sixties rock and the pop of her generation. In her mid-teens she discovered Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins and Betty Carter and for a long time listened exclusively to jazz. “Jazz is a big influence on my sound but ultimately it’s a fusion of many styles”.

Ms Coles latest project, her self titled 8th recording will be released in late February 6th in Canada. The recording is co-produced by Greg Cohen (who has also produced her second full length recording “Blame It On My Youth”) and includes a collection of standards like “Charade”, “Reaching For The Moon”, “I Will Wait For You” and her first self composed song entitled “Larger Than Life”. The recording was arranged by Gil Goldstein and was recorded almost entirely in New York City this summer using a nonet of New Yorks finest musicians. Watch for this very special recording to lighten up those winter doldrums and keep your eyes on her website www.hollycole.com to keep abreast of any and all news. Happy Holidays!

Discography:

Canada
1990 – Girl Talk (Platinum)
1991 – Blame It On My Youth (Gold)
1993 – Don’t Smoke In Bed (Platinum)
1995 – Temptation (Gold)
1996 – It Happened One Night
1997 – Dark Dear Heart (Gold)
1998 – Treasure
2000 – Romantically Helpless (Gold)
2001 – Baby It’s Cold Outside
Japan
1993 – Blame It On My Youth (Gold)

Awards:

1993 – Grand Prix Gold Disc award in Japan – “Best Jazz Album” & “Best New Artist”
1994 – Gemini Award – My Foolish Heart – “Best Performance in a Performances Arts Program or Series” and “Best Performance Arts or Series”
1994 – Juno Award – Don’t Smoke In Bed – “Best Contemporary Jazz Album”
1995 – Gemini Award – Intimate and Interactive with Holly Cole Trio (on Much Music) – “Best Performance in a Performances Arts Program or Series”
2004 – Juno Award – Shade – “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year”
2004 – Juno Award – Shade – “Recording Engineer of the Year”

Quotes:

“she consistently proves that delivering a lyric is as much a creative art as writing one” - Rolling Stone
“Ms. Cole can wow you with the range, phrasing and dexterity of her voice” - The Dallas Morning News
“so successful was she at reaching and elevating an audience through sheer seductive vocal magic and commanding stage presence” - Austin American-Statesman
“Cole’s voice: smoky, though not quite sultry; as sly as it is sexy; and brimming with adventure bordering on recklessness. And it bears an alluring touch of darkness, though it’s not without a mitigating hint of optimism” - The Wall Street Journal
“Ms. Cole invented her own niche as a chanteuse” - The New York Times
“Cole has impressed as one of the most inspired and inspiring contemporary interpreters of popular song” - Minneapolis Star Tribune
“her smokey, eloquent voice can transform even the most familiar tunes into jewels” - Oakland Tribune
“her voice was a superb instrument, one that she easily controlled, rich with color and emotion, sometimes mutating, in a single note, from warm openness to a piercing wail” - Los Angeles Times



Holly, David Piltch, and Dougie Bowne perform "Little Boy Blue" live in 1995.