An African-American jazz pianist, pop vocalist, and balladeer, Cole's popularity is even more incredible considering the time period in which he thrived. Thanks to electronics, she dusted beautifully on the song with the great Nat King Cole himself. February 15, 1957. In addition to being an incomparable lyricist, Mercer was also a shrewd talent scout, and he sensed that Coles singing was capable of appealing to white listeners as well as black ones (the trio had previously recorded for Deccas Sepia Series of race records that were specifically marketed to urban blacks). A Best Of album went gold in 1968. Cole Espanol: Greatest Hits by Nat King Cole (Record, 2018) (5) $18.48 New. UK. It sold over 500,000 copies, and proved that folk-based material could appeal to a wide audience. The brothers were also hired to perform in the "revival of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle Along" for their Chicago stop. According to theOrlando Sentinel, after his time with Shuffle Along came to an end in Long Beach, Cole and his wife at the time decided to settle in California. I think I've finally got this cancer licked.". They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Personal Life Cole married for the first time when he was only 17. According to police, a plan had been developed four days earlier for a group of 150 white men to attack Cole. He was also one of the first black men to be accepted wholeheartedly by many white folks during his time, owing to his unique talent of hosting various shows. His family relocated to Chicago when he was very young, and both of his parents were active church members. As a teenager, Cole became caught up in a relationship with a woman ten years older than him, according toObserver. Born in Alabama on March 17, 1919, Nathaniel Adams Coles (he would later drop the "s") always had a musical streak. Its tune can also serve as a reminder that life goes on, even in . Cole's first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, "Straighten Up and Fly Right," based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Released in 1958, St. Louis Blues, in which Cole played the legendary blues musician W.C. He learned not only jazz and gospel music, but European classical music as well. In the summer of 1991, Natalie and her deceased father had an unexpected hit when Natalie mixed her own voice with her father's 1961 rendition of "Unforgettable," as part of her album paying tribute to her father's music. Legend has it that, one night, a drunk customer demanded that the group sing. 16.57. As a toddler, he learned to play the piano (via Biography). Nat would sneak out of the house and hang outside the Chicago jazz clubs, listening to artists such as Louis Armstrong, Earl "Fatha" Hines, and Jimmie Noone. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. One of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, Nat King Cole has given the world countless classics, from timeless love songs like "Unforgettable" and "L-O-V-E" to the holiday standard "The Christmas Song." These critiques hurt the musician, who would eventually take a more active role in the movement, including participating in the 1963 March on Washington and regularly performing at benefit concerts for civil rights groups. A fourth member of the group who had participated in the plot was later arrested in connection with the act. Although Nat would never be considered a rocker, the song can be seen as anticipating the first rock and roll records. He rejected it, cheekily requesting $1 million instead. Cole retorted "Neither do I. Cole's first marriage, to Nadine Robinson, ended in 1948. For "Wild Is Love" She began recording again after a stint in rehab in. Louis Blues. During the early 60s, Cole also travelled extensively, doing highly successful concert tours of Latin America, Japan, the European Continent and England. Natalie recorded his hit "Unforgettable" and put their vocals together as a duet. 1 spot on of the pop charts, his most successful record yet. Of course, in the mid-20th century, smoking was irresistibly popular. On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. Then in 1956, he was assaulted on stage while singing the song "Little Girl" in Birmingham, Alabama, by three members of the North Alabama White Citizens' Council, who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. His final days were pretty grim. Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, #1 on the album charts in April 1957. All were later tried and convicted for the assault. Apparently, his part-time efforts paid off, because by the time he was 15, he had dropped out of school and was pursuing music full-time. Top performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Pearl Bailey, Mahalia Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Bennett, and Harry Belafonte, appeared for the minimum wage allowed by the union. In his spare time, Cole also became a hot sandlot baseball player, and while he never made it to the pros, he became an ardent follower of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The writers pointed out that he made a grammatical error during the last line of the bridge. . In 1937, after finishing high school, he wrote his first song, Straighten up and Fly Right, which he eventually sold for $50. But music-industry insiders had already taken note of the King Cole Trio and its leader, and one of them, the songwriter Johnny Mercer, signed the group to a contract with Capitol, a new record label founded by Mercer himself that quickly became an industry powerhouse. Nat King Cole, byname of Nathaniel Adams Cole, family name originally Coles, (born March 17, 1919, Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.died February 15, 1965, Santa Monica, California), American musician hailed as one of the best and most influential pianists and small-group leaders of the swing era. Who are you backing for this week's Official Number 1 single? By the time he contracted lung cancer, he was estranged from his wife Maria while in a relationship with actress Gunilla Hutton, best known as Nurse Goodbody of Hee Haw fame. NAT KING COLE Vinyl Records and CDs Nat King Cole's great piano work with his jazz trio got overshadowed by his massive vocal success in the 1950s yet each phase of his career offers up so many riches that it proves that the lines between jazz and popular music just don't matter. AllMusic. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. Nat King Cole, byname of Nathaniel Adams Cole, family name originally Coles, (born March 17, 1919, Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.died February 15, 1965, Santa Monica, California), American musician hailed as one of the best and most influential pianists and small-group leaders of the swing era. Coles second wife, Maria Ellington (no relation to Duke), felt the same way. According to UDiscover Music, Cole also had perfect pitch, making him able to pick out and identify a note on the piano in an instant. With Cole on the piano, Oscar Moore on the guitar, and Wesley Prince on string bass, the three became known as the famous King Cole Trio. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and later Pastor of the First Baptist Church . Coles piano style would have made an impression under any circumstances, but it was the setting that he now created for himselfa drummerless trio consisting of piano, electric guitar, and bassthat showed it off most advantageously. A decade earlier, Cole's mother died, also of cancer. As written by Marianne Ruuth, Cole saw himself as "an entertainer, not a politician." Booklet Volumes 1 and 2 contain 4 shellac records. After signing with Capitol Records in 1942, Cole and his trio recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right, Sweet Lorraine and Embraceable You. All became major hits, the first of an uninterrupted series of smash recordings to follow for the next 20 years. Nat King Cole Trio 78 RPM Capital BD-8 Complete Colection - Records *UNTESTED! To this day, singer-instrumentalists such as Diana Krall and John Pizzarelli continue to model their groups on the King Cole Trios stylish, tightly routined records, and Coles own brilliant playing left its mark on any number of younger pianists, among them Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, and Bill Evans, who called him probably the most underrated jazz pianist in the history of jazz.. Now they became the focus of his second career, and he soon became one of the preeminent pop singers of his generation, Frank Sinatras only male peer. The trio specialized in swing music with a delicate touch in that they did not employ a drummer; also unique were the voicings of piano and guitar, often juxtaposed to sound like a single instrument. Grove Music Online. Nor have I joined an organization fighting segregation. He was to sell a total of 50 million records during . By the start of the 1960s, Cole was only getting more popular. Perhaps her single most popular work to date, was her number one Elektra recording last year of Unforgettable, one of her fathers biggest-selling hits of all. That song, along with "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," earned him two top 10 hits on the Billboard charts. The next month, he underwent surgery to remove the lung, but it was too late. Active. PinkPantheress? Corrections? In 1958, Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record Cole Espaol, an album sung entirely in Spanish. Basin Street Revue. The nimble, darting interplay heard on records such as This Side Up (1940) and What Is This Thing Called Love? Nat King Cole was in the final stages of lung cancer. He was survived by his wife, Maria, and five children; three biological and two adopted. Genealogy profile for Nat King Cole. Nat soon married a dancer, Megan Robinson, and moved to Los Angeles where he formed the Nat King Cole Trio. There he formed the King Cole Trio (originally King Cole and His Swingsters), with guitarist Oscar Moore (later replaced by Irving Ashby) and bassist Wesley Prince (later replaced by Johnny Miller). "I think it was too early," Kitt said, "to show ourselves off as intelligent people."[2]. While he is best remembered today for his musical legacy, Nat King Cole was a multitalented entertainer. His deep, smooth voice remains one of the most recognizable on record, while his pop material and sentimental arrangements appealed to mainstream tastes. Continuing to market himself as an instrumentalist, Cole and his newly formed combo, including guitar, bass and drums, along with his piano, finally won some success on the club circuit, at a time when larger band groups and singers were considerably more popular than trios and quartets. They tried a couple of places, including Beverly Hills, but ultimately wanted somewhere away from the paparazzi and rowdy fans. Genealogy for Nathaniel Adams Coles (1919 - 1965) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. And yet, many of his 1930s - 1960s. The second version, released in November, established the song as a seasonal standard, and three days after recording it, Cole made an even more successful trio-only record of (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons that shot to the No. In June 1946, the King Cole Trio cut the first record of Mel Torm's "The Christmas Song" (known for its first line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"). Contents 1 Childhood and Chicago 2 Los Angeles and the King Cole Trio 3 Early singing career 4 Challenging racial barriers Get notified of exciting GRAMMY Award news and upcoming events! 4th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Record Of The Year Ramblin' Rose (Single) More from the 5th A Awards. Finally, in 1960, almost 15 years after that first recording, Nat King Cole redid the holiday classic when his voice was "at its smokiest." This song would be a great choice if your husband was a positive person who took an upbeat approach to life and rarely let things get him down. "Madison Avenue," Cole said, "is afraid of the dark. 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards. His career as a vocalist, he told a reporter in 1945, had been an accident, going on to explain that a trio is so limited by lack of instruments that I sort of had to sing to add to the group. He stuck at first to lively, undemanding novelty songs such as Straighten Up and Fly Right, a Cole-written tune inspired by one of his fathers sermons. Cole voluntarily gave up the show with a simple commentary: Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.. Initially a short 15-minute program, the show's popularity soared once it was able to express its full potential with a 30-minute prime-time slot. The first of these is the so-called Great Migration that brought 6 million Southern blacks northward to seek better, freer lives in Americas largest cities. 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