Before transforming himself into a record label exec and hit songwriter for groups like Lifehouse, Jude Cole enjoyed a successful solo career during the early 1990s, earning Top 40 hits with the pop/rock singles "Baby It's Tonight" and "Time For Letting Go." He was born on June 18, 1960, in Carbon Cliff, Illinois. After performing as a backup musician for singer Moon Martin, he joined the British power-pop band The Ravens in 1980 and served as the group's singer on the album Crashes. The record barely missed the Billboard 200, as did Cole's self-titled debut album in 1987. A second solo album, A View from 3rd Street, followed in 1990 and fared far better, reaching number 138 on the Billboard 200 and yielding a radio hit with "Baby It's Tonight," which peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100. The song's follow-up, "Time For Letting Go," also reached the Top 40, where it hit number 32 in late 1990. Cole returned in 1992 with Start the Car, which included the gold-certified single "Tell the Truth" and the title track "Start the Car" (which reached number 6 on the US Mainstream Rock chart). Albums like 1995's I Don't Know Why I Act This Way and 2000's Falling Home weren't as successful, though, and Cole put his solo career on hold during the early 2000s, a period that found him managing the band Lifehouse and forming the record label Ironworks. Cole wrote songs for Lifehouse, too, including the chart-topping hit "You and Me" (which reached number 1 on both the Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts in 2005) and the Top 40 success "First Time." He then resurrected his solo career in 2021, releasing both Coup De Main and Coolerator that year.
