Paula Cole

Paula Cole's earnest, lilting melodies sit gracefully on her folk-inflected adult-alternative songs. Her rise to stardom in 1997 was sudden and substantial, an overnight success story with deep roots and lasting echoes. This Fire, her second album, arrived just prior to Sarah McLachlan launching the first Lilith Fair, which featured Cole on the main stage. Soon, her plaint "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" climbed into the Billboard Top Ten with "I Don't Want to Wait" peaking at 11; the latter also gained fame as the theme song to Dawson's Creek. The success helped Cole win th...