A bitter life, sweet success

WITH Keyshia Cole on the brink of finishing her first headlining tour this month, and still celebrating the March certification of her 2005 debut album, “The Way It Is,” as a million-seller, you might expect her to gush with songs of joy.

But joy is not the 24-year-old R&B; artist’s style.

“When she sings, there’s real feeling in the notes,” says Ron Fair, the chairman of Geffen Records who signed Cole to A&M; Records in 2002 when he was that label’s president. “There’s a pain in her voice that is coming from reality.”

Judging from her upbringing, the anguish underlying her raspy soprano is not method acting. Born in a rough section of Oakland to a mother suffering from a debilitating drug addiction and a father she never met, Cole was raised by foster parents with whom she didn’t get along.

“My family environment wasn’t cool,” she says succinctly. “When I was 16, they moved away from Oakland to Tracy. I didn’t want to be there so I ran away.”

Though she had sung professionally for rapper MC Hammer when she was just 12, and had subsequently befriended then rising hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, times were hard for the homeless teenager. At 17, she found some stability living with her then-boyfriend and his mother, but the good times didn’t last long. When she was 20, she discovered he was involved with another woman.

“That was the last straw,” Cole says. So she packed a suitcase and, that night, drove to Los Angeles.

A year later, she was collaborating with a production team that was working for Fair on singer Mya’s 2003 release “Moodring.” The team passed Fair a demo of a song Cole had co-written, titled “Love,” and the industry bigwig was so impressed by her soulful vocals he immediately decided to sign her.

Fair, executive producer of “The Way It Is,” pulled out all the stops for Cole, hiring Kanye West to co-produce and John Legend to co-write the album’s first single, “I Changed My Mind,” and bringing in Alicia Keys to contribute harmonies to the follow-up, “(I Just Want It) to Be Over.”

But the celebrity endorsements were of little help. Because of what Fair described as urban radio’s initial reluctance to embrace an unknown R&B; singer in an era of hip-hop domination, the first two singles performed poorly on the charts.

Luckily for Cole, the third time was the charm. “I Should Have Cheated,” probably the darkest track on a record suffused with heartbreak, not only made the Hot 100’s top 30 but also hit the top five on Billboard’s R&B;/Hip-Hop charts and became the No. 1 requested song at urban radio stations around the country.

Ironically, considering that her move to L.A. was spurred by an act of infidelity, “Cheated” is the only track on her record with lyrics she didn’t write. Still, she relates. “I can still feel how I felt when I went through it,” she says. “The feeling will never completely go away.”

Of course, with her fourth single “Love” proving to be her biggest hit yet in both the pop and urban markets, her platinum album still selling briskly and a reality TV show about her life in production for BET, Cole seems to be finding the silver lining in the rain clouds that have blown through her life. After completing her current tour -- her fourth national crisscross in the last two years -- she even plans to reward herself with a well-deserved vacation.

“Oh yeah,” she says with a laugh. “I’m busting out after this tour, man. I’m taking some time.”

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Where: House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday

Price: $35

Info: (323) 848-5100; hob.com/venues/clubvenues/sunsetstrip