(Original Photo By: Ricky Middlesworth)
What is normal? One would think just growing up at home with your family and going to school would be a normal upbringing, but there’s a lot of people out there who don’t get the chance to do that. When faced with that adversity, how does one respond? Do you find a positive outlet, a way to better yourself and your situation? How do you follow your dreams when you have to support your family as well? That’s the story of one of the hottest young names in dance music, Cole Plante.
Cole grew up in West Covina, east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, with his parents, older brother, and the family dogs. Remember back in 2008 when the U.S. economy crashed and it was pretty tough for anyone to find a job? The Plante family remembers. Forced out of their homes, Cole and his family bounced from various apartments, garages, and hotels, all while Cole and his brother tried to live the normal existence of any teenager/young adult.
“Right when I was 12 or 13 we lost our house. It was 2008 so it was a very tumultuous time in the economy. Being a kid at that point, it was kind of overwhelming. I didn’t really figure out too much of what was going on; I just figured something bad was happening. We would go to our grandma’s house everyday after school because our parents worked and one day, our parents were there to bring us some news: we weren’t going home that day…we would be living at our grandma’s for awhile. Not too long after, my brother and I were told that our house had been foreclosed – we would lose all of our possessions in the house and we had about nine days to move out. So we downsized and moved into a temp home and things were okay for a couple of months.”
Unfortunately for the Plante family, Cole’s older brother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (a form of cancer), which led to more medical bills and another move. This time to West L.A. in order to be closer to UCLA Medical Center in Westwood.
Eventually, they lost their apartment in West L.A. due to the mounting bills and were forced to live in 13 different hotels over the next nine months, eventually moving into his aunt’s garage, which was converted into a temp studio apartment for his family. While all this was happening, Cole was staying focused on school, which can be very daunting for someone at that age. How did he make it through his teenage years without giving up? His family. Despite the significant tragedies that had plagued the Plante family, they remained together through it all.
To this day, family comes first for Cole. Wanting to help out with the finances and after coming across some storage boxes of his dad’s DJ equipment, Cole realized he could make some extra cash for the family by DJing his friends’ bar mitzvahs. Cole became proficient over the next few months and eventually crossed paths with electronic music legend, Paul Oakenfold. Oakenfold liked what he heard and invited Cole to perform in Las Vegas at Oakenfold’s Rain Nightclub sold-out residency on April 30, 2011.
Cole’s debut performance was without question a complete success. Oakenfold invited Cole to return the following month for Vegas’s busiest weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) for the “Love Festival”. For the next year Cole then joined Oakenfold as support on his nationwide tour.
Since 2013, Cole has played major festivals / clubs including Lollapalooza, OMFG, Avalon, Pacha, Exchange LA, Royale, Ruby Skye, and The Mid to name a few. Not only has Cole found success in the electronic sphere, (a single titled “Before I’m Yours” featuring vocals from Brian Logan Dales held the #1 slot for 6 consecutive weeks on SiriusXM’s BPM Radio) but also in pop music as well, evidenced by his supporting slot on Demi Lovato’s 2014 North American tour. This past summer Cole graduated high school and has been completely focused on producing full-time. Recently finishing a slew of singles, the next few months will be setting up release dates.
Watch Aspire to Inspire Live featuring Cole Plante here:
