Patricia Ann Cole (born October 3, 1946), known professionally as P. P. Arnold, is an American soul singer. Arnold began her career as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1965. The following year she relocated to London to pursue a solo career. Arnold enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom with her singles "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (1967) and "Angel of the Morning" (1968).
Arnold was born into a family of gospel singers, and performed as a vocal soloist for the first time when she was four years old. Her family lived in the African-American Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 1965, Maxine Smith contacted her with an offer. Smith and her friend Gloria Scott had managed to arrange an audition for three girls to replace the original Ikettes, the dancer/singer troupe that provided vocal and dance accompaniment for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. At the audition the three young women were offered the job on the spot.
As an Ikette, Arnold sang lead on the 1966 single "What'cha Gonna Do (When I Leave You)," backed by Brenda Holloway and Patrice Holloway for Phil Spector's Phi-Dan Records. Arnold sang backing vocals on the Ike Turner produced side of the album River Deep – Mountain High. She also appeared in the 1966 concert film, The Big T.N.T Show. Arnold quit the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the fall of 1966 after their tour with the Rolling Stones in the UK. She remained in London to establish a solo career, with the encouragement of Mick Jagger. She had a solo contract with Immediate Records, a label founded by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
Arnold enjoyed several major British hits on Immediate Records, including songs written for her by Paul Korda, who wrote "The Time Has Come" and released the solo album The First Lady of Immediate. She also recorded songs written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane from labelmates Small Faces, who backed her on several recordings. She toured with the Small Faces during 1967–68, made several TV appearances with them, and featured as backing vocalist on two of their biggest hits, "Itchycoo Park" and "Tin Soldier". In 1968 she released the ambitious solo album Kafunta, with orchestral arrangements by John Paul Jones and including self-penned songs and covers such as Angel of the Morning and Eleanor Rigby, Other credits in this period include her duet with Rod Stewart on the single "Come Home Baby" (produced by Mick Jagger on Immediate Records, with Ron Wood on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, Nicky Hopkins on electric piano, Keith Emerson on Hammond organ and the Georgie Fame Brass Section), as well as Chris Farlowe's version of the Motown standard "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" (with Albert Lee on guitar and Carl Palmer on drums). Her first backing band, the Blue Jays, had been inherited from American soul singer Ronnie Jones and included former Bluesbreakers guitarist Roger Dean. This was followed by the Nice, whose line-up was Keith Emerson on organ, who had just quit the VIPs (later to be known as Spooky Tooth), David O'List on guitar, Lee Jackson on bass and Ian Hague on drums. During this period she scored several hits, including the original version of Cat Stevens' song "The First Cut Is the Deepest" and "Angel of the Morning", plus the Marriott-Lane song "(If You Think You're) Groovy".
After the collapse of Immediate Records in the late 1960s, Arnold signed a production contract with the Robert Stigwood Organisation and released two singles on the Polydor label, produced by Barry Gibb, but a planned album with Gibb was never completed. Between 1969 and 1970, she recorded eleven songs which were produced by Gibb himself but only two of the songs "Bury Me Down By the River" and "Give a Hand, Take a Hand" were released. In 1970 Arnold moved to the musical stage, appearing alongside P.J. Proby in the rock musical Catch My Soul. She then formed a new backing band that included the future members of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, plus Steve Howe, who would soon join Yes. During this period she renewed her association with Steve Marriott, recording and touring with his new band Humble Pie (Rock On), as well as contributing session musician backing vocals for many notable UK and US recordings including the original 1970 album recording of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Nick Drake's "Poor Boy", and recordings by Dr. John, Graham Nash, Gary Wright, Manassas, Nektar, Jimmy Witherspoon, Nils Lofgren and Eric Burdon. In 1984, she returned to the stage in the cast of the musical Starlight Express as Belle the Sleeping Car, after which she worked with a number of noted British acts including Boy George as well as working on several film soundtracks. During the late 1980s and 1990s Arnold resumed an active career as a session vocalist, and her credits in this period included The KLF ("What Time Is Love?", "3 A.M Eternal"), Nina Hagen, Roger Waters (Amused to Death), and Graham Parker. In 1994, she joined the cast of the award-winning musical Once on This Island as Erzulie, beautiful Goddess of Love. In 2001 Arnold released her full Immediate Records discography on the album The First Cut (The Immediate Anthology). It includes her famous albums The First Lady of Immediate and Kafunta in addition to several singles. In 2017 P. P. Arnold finally released her Heritage recordings in album. The Turning Tide is a collection of songs recorded between 1968 and 1970. In August 2019, Arnold released her fourth solo album The New Adventures Of... P.P. Arnold. The album was recorded and produced by life-long P.P. enthusiast, OCS star and Paul Weller band guitarist Steve Cradock.
