Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. Her single "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Her song "I Don't Want To Wait" was used as the theme song to the television show Dawson's Creek.
Early life
Cole was raised in Rockport, Massachusetts; her mother was an elementary school art teacher, and her father was a professor of biology and ecology at Salem State College and a polka musician. She attended Rockport High School, where she was president of her senior class and performed in school theatrical productions such as South Pacific. Cole then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied jazz singing and improvisation. She was offered a record deal by a jazz label, but decided to turn it down.
Recording career
Cole got her first big professional break when she was invited to perform on Peter Gabriel's 1993–94 Secret World Live tour. Shortly after this, she was signed on with her first record company Imago Records. Through this record company, she released her first album Harbinger in 1994. Within that year of Harbinger's release, Imago Records went out of business. In 1995, she was signed on to Warner Bros. Records. The record company reissued Harbinger in the Autumn of 1995.
"Me" is a song written, produced and performed by Paula Cole. It was released as the third and final single from her double platinum album This Fire. Unlike Cole's previous two singles, "Me" underperformed commercially. As it was not released commercially, it was not eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It did peak at #17 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 and cracked the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart. The music video for the single did receive a decent amount of rotation US music television stations MTV and VH1. Unlike Cole's previous two singles, "Me", was the only single that did not receive a commercial CD/Cassette single release for purchase in the USA.