Bio : Stella Cole

Looking at the career of Stella Cole—whose third release, It’s Magic, is just about to be released by Decca Records US—you might perceive a kind of disconnect, as Marshall McLuhan would say, between the medium and her message. McLuhan, who died in 1980, had never heard of the internet, YouTube, or music streaming platforms—and neither did the vast majority of songwriters whose work she champions: Frank Loesser, Meredith Willson, Ray Noble, Sammy Cahn, or Jimmy Van Heusen.

Likewise, none of the great artists whose legacy she honors—like Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, or Rosemary Clooney—would know what it meant to “go viral.” Yet that’s exactly how Stella Cole first got noticed by the music industry and, more importantly, by the larger world beyond: by performing her own interpretations of classic American popular standards and using the internet to share them.

A closer look reveals that these iconic artists were no less eager to embrace new media. Long-playing recordings, television, stereophonic sound—these were all new technologies in the 1940s and ’50s. The idea of bringing classic American songs to new platforms didn’t begin with Stella, but she’s accomplished it more successfully than virtually any other artist working today.

Born in a small town in Illinois in 1999, Stella comes naturally to her repertoire—the material chose her as much as she chose it. “I grew up on old movie musicals,” she remembers. “When I was two years old, my parents sat me down in front of the TV and turned on the VHS of The Wizard of Oz. I loved it so much that after that, I asked them if I could watch it every single day for over a year. I've just been obsessed with that movie my whole life, and because of it, I started singing before I could even talk.”

From there, she gradually absorbed the entire canon of classic Hollywood musicals: Singin’ in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and others. “Those are all my very favorite movies ever,” she adds. “So I just grew up on this music. And I think my parents accidentally sheltered me culturally, in a way. We watched all these films and we listened to all the soundtrack albums—and occasionally some James Taylor and maybe Norah Jones. And we didn't have cable TV or anything. So that was kind of it.”

“I thought this was what everybody was listening to,” she continues. “I didn’t realize anything different until I was in high school.” She later enrolled at Northwestern University, double-majoring in theater and international relations—not music or singing.

As an artist, Stella found a way to thrive—and launch a musical career—at a moment when most performers were struggling. At the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, she began posting videos of herself singing on YouTube, TikTok, and other social platforms. Many others were doing the same, but Stella was virtually the only one to turn viral video views into real opportunity. Her performance of “Everybody Says Don’t” (from Stephen Sondheim’s lesser-known Anyone Can Whistle) hit 40,000 views out of the gate; James Taylor even championed and reposted her rendition of the beloved standard “Moon River.”

After graduation and the end of lockdown, she moved to New York, where her career really gained momentum. She began performing live across the city, appearing at Birdland, the Café Carlyle, and even Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. In 2023, she toured nationally and internationally with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, including dates in Australia and New Zealand. Her interpretations of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” and Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers” added more than ten million views and streams to her growing list of accomplishments.

Stella went into high gear not long after arriving in New York, when she met veteran Grammy-winning producer Matt Pierson. “Someone introduced us and we started talking,” says Matt. “I was immediately taken with her focus and dedication to the music. She said she was interested in recording, that we should get together, and that’s how it all started.” Even before seeing her live, he had already been impressed by her talent on YouTube and TikTok.

He admits he initially had a hard time believing what he was seeing and hearing—not because of Stella herself, but because of social media. “I almost jumped to the wrong conclusion, because social media can be so confusing to those of us that didn't grow up with it being there,” he says. “I assumed there was no way this 23-year-old could sound so mature and understand these classic songs so well. But when I got to know her, I realized that she was for real. That was her actual tone!”

So far, the team of Stella and Matt has completed two independent projects. Her first album, Stella Cole, was a mixture of familiar ballads with strings and winds, uptempo numbers, and a few obscure tunes for music buffs, like Frank Sinatra’s little-known “Walking in the Sunshine.” It also included a highly original take on Billie Eilish’s “My Future.” Their second project was a seven-song holiday EP titled Snow!, featuring a standout duet with Darren Criss on the Irving Berlin classic “It’s Magic,” from Romance on the High Seas.

For their third collaboration, Stella and Matt teamed up again with the acclaimed New Zealand-born arranger, conductor, composer, and pianist Alan Broadbent. It’s Magic is a more focused collection than the earlier records: all vintage love songs, the newest of which is the 1966 theme from the British film Alfie, set against lush, romantic string arrangements.

The vision for It’s Magic was to select songs that were familiar yet somewhat unconventional—like “Stairway to the Stars,” “My Ideal,” and “Fools Rush In”—with many tracks arranged for a more intimate string quartet rather than a full orchestra. The album ranges from Broadway classics like “Till There Was You” (The Music Man), to film favorites like “As Time Goes By” (Casablanca) and Doris Day’s 1948 hit “It’s Magic,” to jazz and Great American Songbook standards such as “Say It” and “The Touch of Your Lips.”

“When I was younger, I always thought of performing—singing or acting—as kind of an ego-driven, self-centered kind of career,” Stella reflects. “That people who did it were all totally focused on themselves. But during the lockdown, thousands of people were sending me messages saying, ‘You don’t know how much you’ve helped me,’ and ‘Your music is the one thing cheering me up right now.’ I was sort of shocked because I hadn’t realized that music had that kind of power to help people. It’s amazing to think that my music can be a bit of a salve or a balm for people’s stress and anxiety. Don’t forget, these songs and this music helped people get through the Great Depression and World War II.” She concludes, “That’s the most gratifying thing of all—experiencing how this music can actually help people.”