December 20, 2012

Holly Cole at her piano. Cole was in Toronto promoting her new album Night. (Craig Robertson/QMI Agency)

Not everyone can say recording their latest album was held up by a natural disaster.

But Canadian jazz-pop singer Holly Cole was in Tokyo on March 11, 2011 -- the day of the 9.3 earthquake and subsequent tsunami -- recording her first album in five years, Night.

"That was a life-changing experience in so many ways," says Cole, who tours frequently in Japan.