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The
quietly talented singer and songwriter, Cole, makes her
Fall 2005 debut with the CD titled “Fame”. The first single,
“Bad Girl” is sexy, hard hitting and liberating. It symbolizes
the path taken by Cole in life and in the music business.
She’s walking tall in the footsteps of her predecessors
of women who were empowered by their sexuality and purpose
to make people think. Cole has used her talents and instincts
to rise up and soar from the grimness of life in the projects
and the ghetto that surrounded her. Cole has won respect
and recognition with the power of her music. “Fame” is a
co-lab production of TaylorMade and Cole. Mixing TaylorMade’s
hip-hop flavored beats sprinkled and his genuine DJ pimpish
charm along with Cole’s lyrical madness and streaks of melodic
ingenuity, creates a recipe for head-boppin’, contemplating
and a little bit of bootie shakin’. Cole shared the mic
with MC Nijay, Neb Love, Stace, Shakesphere and Sweet Jeez
(who is featured on the “Bad Girl” single).
“My
mom always told me, ‘Just because you’re in the ghetto, doesn’t
mean you have to be the ghetto,” Cole says. “There’s so much
out there in the world, go for it, stay positive, anything
you put your mind to, you can do.” She was born in Manhattan
and raised in the ‘Boogie Down’ South Bronx, in the shadow
of Yankee Stadium and the County Courthouse. Her mother Marilyn,
a single working parent, filled her house with Nancy Wilson,
George Benson, Stephanie Mills, and Minnie Riperton, while
Cole remembers her aunts listening to Natalie Cole and The
Wiz.
At
age two, Cole was mimicking “Smiling Faces Sometimes” (by
Motown’s Undisputed Truth); by four, she was singing little
song melodies and lyrics she created; and by sixth grade she
was dancing, writing poetry, and developing her high soprano.
She saw Fame and made up her mind to go through the arduous
audition process to enter the prestigious High School of Music
& Art. While at M&A, which merged with the High School
of Performing Arts, Cole was a vocal major with a concentration
in opera. At the same time, she received a full scholarship
to study at the Dance Theatre of Harlem – every day after
school for four hours, and every summer, 40 hours a week.
As if this wasn’t enough, Cole fronted a four-girl vocal group
starting in junior year. She earned a full scholarship to
Stillman College in Alabama which she attended as an English
and Music major.The lure of music drew Cole back to New York
and then out to Los Angeles, where she worked with Producers
Teddy Riley, Babyface, the Neptunes, and Grammy Award winning
Producer Dallas Austin. This school of top-notch producers
helped her to step out on her own independently and team up
with TaylorMade and John Rosedale to release “Fame”“I had
to fight my way through when I was growing up,” Cole says.
“I was always different, people always made fun of me because
I was really quiet and I was into my music at a young age.
They didn’t know what was going on in my head, so they would
judge me, want to fight me, jump me, just because they didn’t
understand me.” Her tenacity has paid off with the Indie CD
release “Fame” – and the chance to show everyone what Cole
is all about.
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