Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Paula Cole soars on her independent debut, Raven – available April 23rd on her own 675 Records with distribution through United For Opportunity (UFO). The release comes on the 20th anniversary of her performance debut on Peter Gabriel’s "Secret World Live" tour/album 1993-1994 and debut album Harbinger (Imago Records).
Raven marks Cole’s departure from the major labels. Taking flight with support from her loyal fanbase, she turned to fan-funding via Kickstarter and achieved 150% of her goal. Throughout her twenty-year career Cole has been a fiercely independent artist. Her sophomore album This Fire, released on Warner Brothers Records in 1996, was entirely self- produced. Paula was Grammy nominated for “Producer of the Year,” the first solo woman to ever be nominated. And it bore the two breakout Billboard charting hits "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (#8 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "I Don’t Want to Wait,” its popularity furthered by its use as the theme song for the WB hit series Dawson’s Creek. She has been nominated for seven Grammys and she won the Grammy Award for “Best New Artist.”
Roughly a decade between releases – she took time to raise her daughter – Paula returned to music in 2007 with Courage and 2010 with Ithaca, both on Decca Records. Her forthcoming album, Raven, will mark her first independent release, with a nod to her Harbinger-styled, Americana storytelling roots evoking themes of longing, sex, and feminism. The songs "Life Goes On" and "Eloise" tell stories of family, heartache, love. And "Strong Beautiful Woman" is catchy and anthemic, a mantra for mothers, partners and daughters.
Paula will perform songs from the new album on tour this spring, dates to be announced. Quotes from the road regarding her live performance:
Raven takes flight on April 23rd. Further information is available at http://www.paulacole.com
