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.”

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.

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. Cole’s constant touring has made her renowned worldwide. As anyone who has witnessed one of Cole’s captivating, mercurial performances can testify, she’s completely in her element on stage. “The audience feeds me so much.” she confesses. “The communication that goes on in the live show is multi-faceted: there’s the interchange between the band members, from us to the audience and the response that the crowd gives back as fuel”.

Off stage she consumes life with the same gusto she communicates in her music. While some artists seclude themselves in rehearsal studios and their homes, Cole delights in getting out there in the thick of it. “If it weren’t for the ups and downs in life and a commitment to the pursuit of adventure, there certainly would be less to sing about.” she admits. “Those are the things that motivate me to make music.”