The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 321

EMU Hot band Weezer, done the Sweater Song" is shaping up as the latest inescapable KROQ hit, plays at Glam Slam in downtown Los Angeles Monday night, opening for Lush. 0 ROCKSOULJAZZCOUNTRYWORLD MUSIC If Pop Eye Pia Aretha and Shara? Love and Hole Ready to Roll? Here comes Courtney Love again. And not just on computer bulletin boards. Details are being worked out for Love to take her band Hole on the road, resuming a career that was sidetracked by the April-suicide of her husband Kurt Co-bain and the May death of Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff. Those tragedies understandably overshadowed the April re-' lease of Hole's acclaimed album, "Live Through This," and forced the cancellation of a promotional tour.

The plan now being discussed would have Hole open shows for Nine Inch Nails this fall, including a possible stop at the Univer Shara Nelson has been hailed in her native England for her aura of melancholy and soulful purity, but she still harbors doubts about her singing. By Ernest Hardy English newcomer Shara Nelson is being called the heiress to both France's Little Sparrow, Edith Piaf, and America's Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Not bad for someone whose first album has been in U.S. stores for only a month. Though Nelson, 30, doesn't really sound like a Memorex copy of either musical icon, their emotional essence reverberates strongly in her lyrics and voice.

From Piaf, Nelson's music borrows an aura of melancholy that shades even optimistic lyrics with sadness or foreboding. Like Franklin, she evokes a soulful purity that gives even the most banal detail an honest ring. And she can swing almost effortlessly from defiance to heartache. In real life, it's the vulnerable side that seems to win out. Sitting by the pool of a West Hollywood hotel, Nelson shifts uncomfortably when asked about her voice.

"To this day, there is a part of me that is doubtful about it," she says softly, picking absent-mindedly at a warm fruit salad. "The thing I always felt strongest about was my writing. "It wasn't until I was 13 or 14 and was in the studio with the people from early rap group Sugarhill Gang that I actually gave my voice some serious consideration. They were so flattering, I thought there might be something there." Though the song she recorded that day was never released, she so enjoyed the process of making music that it became a defining moment in her life. Producer Adrian Sherwood, a family friend who'd brought Nelson into the studio with the Sugarhill Gang alumni, became one of her biggest supporters.

sal Amphitheatre. Love, who is auditioning bassists, tested the performing waters last week with a surprise appearance at "Lollapalooza" in Philadelphia, where she two songs alone with acoustic guitar. "Courtney needs to do what's best for her, and being on stage is cathartic and an honest, real thing," says Hole manager Janet Billig. What abdut fans who feel Love is exploiting the two tragedies by touring so soon? "You can't think about that," Billig says. "You just have to go do it and hope people accept it." But will they? While reactions to LoveV Please see Page 64 PHIL KNOTT NEW TERRITORY: "I'm not too worried about the fate of this record in the States," Nelson says.

(v Times link To hear an excerpt from Shara Nelson's "What Silence Knows," call TimesLink and press 5710. Telephone 808-TIMES TimesLink is available in the (213), (310), (714), (818) and (909) area codes. From other regions, call TimesLink using the area code nearest you. to see it as I see it. I did the album with everything I had in me, and I couldn't dilute it or change it to make it appeal to' people who don't want it." Born in London to parents who were originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Nelson was surrounded by music while growing up.

No one else in the family sang or played an instrument, but she spent hours listening to her father's old jazz and records. Aretha Franklin emerged as her idol. By 13, Nelson was already writing songs and singing in the church choir. -Though she had more faith in her compositions than her voice, she really wanted to be a singer. "I knew I'd be a singer as a child," the soft-spoken Nelson says sitting up in her poolside chair and raising her voice to compete with nearby businessmen on portable phones.

"I was lucky enough to hear different types of music from everywhere, and I think that's what did it. Being able to Please see Page 59 landmark in the genre. Titled "Blue Lines," it featured her vocals and three songs she co-wrote. By the time Nelson released her solo album last year in England, she'd become something of a cult figure. The album, "What Silence Knows" (see review, Page 59), led to nominations for best new artist and best female artist in the Brit Awards competition (the English equivalent of the Grammy Larry Flick, dance music editor for Billboard magazine, predicts she'll be equally hailed in the United States.

"Shara's album is going to blow people away," he says. "It's mature, it's intelligent, it's full of soul and emotion. It's one of the best records in years." When asked about all the praise that she has received, she's both embarrassed and blunt. "I'm not too worried about the fate of this record in the States. I know it's not the type of thing that will happen automatically over here.

I know it will take time for people Nelson songwriting efforts continued throughout her teen years, even as singing was placed on the back burner. She studied languages in college, majoring in French, but didn't really exert herself in her studies because she knew that eventually she'd get back where her heart was: singing. Her musical breakthrough came in the mid-'80s when she hooked up with the musicians who would eventually form Massive Attack, the highly regarded experimental dance-music outfit whose 1991 debut album is considered a CON KEYES For The Times BACK TO WORK: Courtney Love and Hole may open for Nine Inch Nails on its tour this fall. SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 1994 ,57.