Song:I've Just Seen A Face
Album:The Best Of Holly Cole
Jazz singer Holly Cole has been very successful in her native Canada and Japan. Blue Note's attempts to break her in the US were unsuccessful and attempts to give her a more mainstream sound like with this cover of I've Just Seen A Face failed. So she's returned to jazz in recent years. She was born Nov. 25, 1963 in Halifax, NS. Her father Leon Cole worked for the CBC and he was a classical musician. Holly and her older brother both studied piano at Berklee in Boston. He got her into jazz by listening to Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. Holly moved to Toronto in 1983 and she formed a trio with pianist Aaron Davis and bassist David Piltch. And she still works with them today. Both are veterans of the Canadian jazz scene who have worked with a who's who of Canadian music since the 80s. They played Toronto clubs for a few years and signed with Alert Records in 1989. This led to a US record deal with Blue Note. Holly had success with the 1993 album Don't Smoke In Bed and her cover of the Johnny Nash classic I Can See Clearly Now. The album was certified Platinum in Canada. She also became popular in Japan which can be a very lucrative market for jazz musicians. Her next album was an album of Tom Waits covers called Temptation in 1995. This cover of The Beatles classic I've Just Seen A Face is from the 1997 album Dark Dear Heart. This was an attempt to turn Holly more mainstream. It was produced by Larry Klein who has worked with many female singers including his ex-wife Joni Mitchell and his current wife Luciana Souza. I've Just Seen A Face was her biggest hit single in Canada. But it didn't break through in the US as Blue Note had hoped. This comp covers Holly's 90s recordings. Holly currently records for the German label Tradition & Moderne and her own label Rumpus Room in Canada distributed by Universal. Her latest CD Night was released in 2012. She lives in Kingston and performs occasionally. But she's not as active as she used to be. It almost seems like she is winding down her career. Here's the video for I've Just Seen A Face by Holly Cole.
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