When singing "To see if reindeer really know how to fly," he mistakenly sang "reindeers." 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. An African-American jazz pianist, pop vocalist, and balladeer, Cole's popularity is even more incredible considering the time period in which he thrived. Cole later retooled the concept album into an off-Broadway show, I'm With You. In 1956, "The Nat King Cole Show" was the first of its kind for a known Black performer. Two years later, he resumed performing, reinvented himself as a stadium act, and returned to his place at the center of American popular culture. As written by Marianne Ruuth, Cole saw himself as "an entertainer, not a politician." Sold for 23.50 USD on 11 Mar 2022 (4 bids) 1. Sensing its commercial possibilities, Cole rerecorded the song two months later, adding four violins and a harp, the first time he had ever sung with string accompaniment. To speculate about what might have been is obviously fruitless, though it is possible that he might have taken up the piano again and become the elder statesman of jazz that he had it in him to be. After Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole is the best remembered of the singers who dominated American popular music between the end of the big-band era and the advent of rock . Despite the efforts of NBC, The Nat King Cole Show ultimately failed due to a lack of national sponsorship. Legend has it that, one night, a drunk customer demanded that the group sing. He learned not only jazz and gospel music, but European classical music as well. Settling in California, the Coles had five children and made their home in Hancock Park in greater Los Angeles. Natalie, of course, has followed in her fathers difficult-to-fill footsteps as a highly successful recording artist in her own right. The Best of the Nat King Cole Trio: The Vocal Classics 1942-46. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Nat King Cole - Swings Spirituals - Used Vinyl Record lp - E34A at the best online prices at eBay! It became a hit instantly, but Cole was unsatisfied. For a brief time when it debuted, the show had no sponsors. Moreover, his appeal, like that of Armstrong, crossed racial lines, and did so at a time when much of America was still segregated, a fact that led to his being assaulted on stage by a group of white supremacists during a concert he was giving in Birmingham in 1956. Cole appeared frequently on popular variety programs hosted by Perry Como, Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, and others. Profiles In Jazz. Nat King Cole One of the key jazz voices of the 20th Century, Nat King Cole picked up fourteen UK Top 10 singles while his first album Love Is The Thing reached Number 1 in 1957. By the 1950s, Nat King Cole emerged as a popular solo performer with numerous hits including "Mona Lisa", "Smile" and "Unforgettable". "Smile" by Nat King Cole. This page was last edited on 11 November 2022, at 01:27. . 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. (via NewsOne). Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Cole had greater success with concert performances during the late 1950s and early 60s and twice toured with his own vaudeville-style reviews, The Merry World of Nat King Cole (1961) and Sights and Sounds (1963). The Songwriters Hall of Fame's ongoing mission is to celebrate and honor the contributions and legacies of songwriters of all genres of music while developing and nurturing the next generation of songwriters through Master Sessions, songwriting craft forums, scholarships and digital initiatives. He passed away. 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." At a time when Jim Crow was the law of the land and the Civil Rights Movement was growing stronger, Nat King Cole played a complicated role. Volumes 1-4 released as separate booklets in 10" format. Nat King Cole, too, fell to the allure of smoking. Cole praised NBC for its support and directly blamed the advertising industry. Cole was dedicated to seeing the pioneering show succeed, not for the money but to break down barriers and disprove racial prejudices. 1 spot on of the pop charts, his most successful record yet. eBay Money Back Guarantee. Nat King Cole. Booklet Volumes 1 and 2 contain 4 shellac records. [Part 1]", "Pop Chronicles Interviews #131 - Nat "King" Cole", "Study: Ad Agencies Exhibit 'Pervasive Racial Discrimination' | News", "17 Of The Most Influential Freemasons Ever", "Gale:Free Resources:Black History:Biographies: Nat King Cole", "L.A.'s Ugly Jim Crow History: Nat King Cole's Dog Poisoned in Hancock Park", "Nat 'King' Cole attacked on stage archive, 12 April 1956", "It's All Right to Still Like Ike: History: Once Painted as a 'Distanced' President, Dwight Eisenhower Now is Heralded for his Strong Sense of Service", "Nat King Cole | Songwriters Hall of Fame", "Special Awards Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame", Nat "King" Cole article in the Encyclopedia of Alabama, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio, You're Lookin' at Me (A Collection of Nat King Cole Songs), The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You), Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon, and Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea, Caroling, Caroling: Christmas with Natalie Cole, Unforgettable A Musical Tribute to Nat King Cole, Sophisticated Lady (She's a Different Lady), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nat_King_Cole&oldid=1139844406, 20th-century African-American male singers, African-American television personalities, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Racially motivated violence against African Americans, Spanish-language singers of the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. 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. 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). The program featured some of the hottest stars of the day, both Black and white, including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, Count Basie, Peggy Lee, and more. Had Cole continued to lead the trio, he would be generally acknowledged as one of the most important jazz pianists of the 20th century. As a result, he presented only singers, dancers, and instrumentalists, never comedians, and the shows lack of range, combined with the absence of national sponsorship, kept it from making money. The classic "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" was popularized by Cole in the late 1940s. Record companies had previously discouraged black male vocalists from recording anything but blues and novelties, but Cole, whose affable yet dignified stage demeanor was sufficiently unthreatening not to discomfit white audiences, had already surmounted that obstacle in the romantic ballads he recorded with the trio. According toThe Guardian,cigarette smoking was not only "the epitome of cool and glamour," but it was also cheap and accessible. Cole reportedly carried on affairs throughout his marriage. 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards. The King Cole Trio 78rpm Single 10-inch Capitol Records #311 The Christmas Song. "The Nat "King" Cole Show," Museum of Broadcast Communications, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Nat_King_Cole&oldid=1086902, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, Vocal jazz, swing, traditional pop, jump blues. While Cole was not the first African-American to host a network television showan honor belonging to jazz pianist and singer Hazel Scott in 1950 Cole's stature made the venture more socially significant, which Cole himself recognized. He formed his first jazz group, the Royal Dukes, five years later. Privacy Policy. Cole would form a few jazz music groups before creating the King Cole Trio. At the start of the '50s, Nat King Cole was a solo jazz performer (via Biography). Thousands flocked to build a life on South . 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. 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. He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia (1953). Riddle arranged several of Cole's 1950s albums, including his first 10-inch long-play album, his 1953 Nat King Cole Sings For Two In Love. Cole struggled against racism throughout his career and on April 10, 1956, at Birmingham, Alabama, he was attacked by three white men from a white-supremacist group during a concert and sustained minor injuries to his back. 2011. Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. First Look: Could PinkPantheress or The Weeknd challenge Miley for Number 1? In addition to being a skilled pianist, famous vocalist, and likable stage personality, according to Britannica, Cole also spent some time acting. Get notified of exciting GRAMMY Award news and upcoming events! Of course, in the mid-20th century, smoking was irresistibly popular. Nat King Cole At The Sands (1966) - Antonio Morelli - Capitol Records SMAS-2434 Recorded live 1/14/1960 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Children: 5, including Natalie Cole. Eventually, NBC was able to get about 30 local sponsors, but there was never a national corporate sponsor that would support the program, as mentioned by NPR. Omissions? Nat King Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays, The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You), Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon (and Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea), "American certifications Nat King Cole", Recording Industry Association of America, "British certifications Ozzy Osbourne", "Kent Music Report No 341 5 January 1981 > Platinum and Gold Albums 1980", "Billboard Hot 100 (Week of January 7, 2023)", "Jingle bell rock: Why lots of radio stations go all-Christmas in December", "Andy Williams Hits New High, The Ronettes 'Ride' Back After 52 Years & More Hot 100 Chart Moves", "Holiday 100: The week of December 24, 2011", "Holiday 100: The week of December 8, 2012", "Holiday 100: The week of January 4, 2014", "Holiday 100: The week of December 20, 2014", "Holiday 100: The week of December 12, 2015", "Holiday 100: The week of December 10, 2016", "Holiday 100: The week of December 16, 2017", "Holiday 100: The week of January 5, 2019", "Holiday 100: The week of December 7, 2019", "Holiday 100: The week of December 12, 2020", "Holiday 100 (Week of December 11, 2021)", "Holiday 100: The week of December 13, 2014", "Holiday 100 (Week of December 10, 2022)", "Holiday 100: The week of December 19, 2015", "Holiday 100: The week of December 21, 2019", "Holiday 100: The week of December 19, 2020", "Holiday 100 (Week of December 31, 2022)", "Holiday 100: The week of January 4, 2020", "Holiday 100: The week of December 26, 2020", "Nat King Cole Chart History (Holiday 100)", "Holiday 100: The week of January 2, 2021", "Holiday 100 (Week of December 18, 2021)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nat_King_Cole_discography&oldid=1132283049, "You Call It Madness (But I Call it Love)", "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)". All rights reserved. Cole's first marriage, to Nadine Robinson, ended in 1948. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Victor Young, Jeri Southern with Victor Young and His Orchestra. Released in 1958, St. Louis Blues, in which Cole played the legendary blues musician W.C. The brothers were also hired to perform in the "revival of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle Along" for their Chicago stop. New (and updated) Christmas albums for 2021, Festive favourites that could reach the Top 40 for the first time this Christmas, NAT 'KING' COLE AND THE GEORGE SHEARING QUINTET, Miley? Facing death himself, Cole was also dealing with grief. While Cole certainly had a more understated public role in the Civil Rights Movement, he was apparently quite outspoken in private among his high-profile friends, including Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Active. Instead, his style was quiet, understated, and arrestingly direct, as if he were sitting across from you, telling a story about a mutual friend. Cole did manage to record some hit singles during the 1960s, including the country-flavored hit "Ramblin' Rose" and "Dear Lonely Hearts," "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer," "Let Me Tell You, Babe," and "That Sunday, That Summer.". statistics still stand up, even though his singing career came to an abrupt close in 1965, when he died of lung cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer had spread. By the start of the 1960s, Cole was only getting more popular. It's rare for songs to withstand the test of time and become classics. I have not taken part in any protests. He even left the hospital to see his children one last time in a brief car ride home with his wife. In a few short years, Cole dropped out of school at 15 years old to focus solely on pursuing a career in music. Incomparable Nat King Cole II. In 1991, Mosaic Records released The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio, an 18 compact disc set, consisting of 349 songs. Their first chart success, Straighten Up and Fly Right (1943), was followed by hits such as Sweet Lorraine, Its Only a Paper Moon, (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, and Route 66. Eventually, Coles piano playing took a backseat to his singing career. Nat King Cole was in the final stages of lung cancer. He died of lung cancer in February, 1965, when he was forty-five years old. Cole received 28 Gold Record awards for such hits as "Sweet Lorraine" and "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962, "Too Young" in 1951, "Mona Lisa" in 1949, and Mel Torm's "Christmas Song." However, he was with his wife during his illness and she stayed with him until his death. Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. Nat learned to play the organ from his mother until the age of 12, when he began formal lessons. His pop hits were collaborations with well-known arrangers and conductors of the day, including Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael. Among them were Nat Cole and his family. Parts of our site will not function correctly without them. The LA Sentinel describes how Cole, who was known for his smooth, rich voice, would smoke as many as three packs a day. Apparently, he felt that smoking gave his voice the unique quality it had and would smoke "several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for that very purpose.". Their real estate agent knew about this racist rule and circumvented it by hiring a light-skinned Black woman to buy the place for the Coles with a $6,000 down payment. With the sole exception of Louis Armstrong, he is the only major jazz musician to have been identically distinguished and influential as both an instrumentalist and a vocalist. Born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama, Cole's first introduction to music was in the church. For most of the '30s and '40s he was a third of this musical act. Portuguese) in 1959, and More Cole Espaol in 1962. This article contains a list of albums by Nat King Cole and compilations of his recordings, together with a list of his chart singles. 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. We want to hear your thoughts about this article. (This special compilation also was available as a 27 high-quality LP record set.). Incredibly, Coles singing was as extraordinary as his playing. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In 1956, "The Nat King Cole Show" was the first of its kind for a known Black performer. His father, Edward James Coles, was a Baptist minister, while his mother, Perlina Adams, was the soprano soloist and director of the choir in her husbands church. "[1] The program featured some of the most acclaimed artists,who performed at a fraction of their usual rate to help keep the show on the air. Natalie recorded his hit "Unforgettable" and put their vocals together as a duet. In . With his immense popularity, his first couple of roles in the 1940s were guest appearances that had him "largely playing some version of himself," as told by Biography. Five years after Coles death, Frank Sinatra announced his retirement from singing. Feb. 28, 2023 2 PM PT. In August 1948, the couple moved into their new home. His older brother, Eddie Coles, a bassist, soon joined Nat's band and they first recorded in 1936 under Eddie's name. Cole first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist, then switched his emphasis to singing, becoming one of the most popular and best-known vocalists of all time. His enjoyable personality landed him the iconic gig as the host of his very own nationally televised show, as told by NPR. In fact, he had started out as a jazz pianist of the highest distinction, the leader of the King Cole Trio, a cocktail combo (as such small groups were known in the 30s and 40s) that featured both his singing and his playing. Anniversary Flashback: Al Martino gains first UK Number 1 single 70 years ago. Evan Tyrone Martin's homage to the late beloved singer continues with a holiday tribute show, "An Unforgettable Nat King Cole Christmas," which Martin will perform at the Marriott Theatre on . All were later tried and convicted for the assault. But no national sponsor would advertise on a show hosted by a black manit is no coincidence that Cole was attacked on stage in Birmingham in the same year that The Nat King Cole Show was launchedand the series was further limited by the fact that Cole, though he was a genial host, could not act, meaning that he was incapable of appearing in the comedy sketches that were staples of most other TV variety series of the period. For over a year, the entertainer worked tirelessly on his show, even turning down a total of $500,000 in performances in order to focus on the program. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Mercer, first president of The Songwriters Hall of Fame, was a principal), until his death Cole remained with the label, turning out hit after hit. Audio CD. An influence on jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson, Cole was known for a compact, syncopated piano style with clean, spare, melodic phrases. The Guardian reported how someone came at Cole's knees and knocked him to the ground, injuring his back. According to NPR, he sold over 50 million records and had hit after hit during his career, including more than 30 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (via Billboard). On February 15, 1965, Nat King Cole passed away in his sleep at the age of 45. Here's a look into the untold truth of Nat King Cole. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as "The Christmas Song" (Cole recorded the tune four times), "Nature Boy" (1948), "Mona Lisa" (1950), "Too Young" (1951), and his signature tune "Unforgettable" (1951). Maria also encouraged him to part with his expensive sidemen and turn the group from the King Cole Trio into Nat King Cole and His Trio, assuring him that his singing was the draw. A heavy smoker, Cole died of lung cancer at age 45. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Bill Dobbins and Richard Wang. He would later be known as Nat King Cole, the "Unforgettable" singer out of Montgomery, Alabama, whose other hits would include "Love" and, in 1946, the instant classic "The Christmas Song." Naxos of America / OKeh Records AllMusic Quiz. Perlina also gave young Nat piano lessons, and although nothing specific is known about his course of study, it is obvious from the exceptional technical finish of his jazz playing that he received thorough training in the fundamentals of classical piano. Nat King Cole was making and setting records for his celebrated music decades before Elvis Presley and The Beatles arrived on the scene. Singer. That year Cole released his memorable song "L-O-V-E," but at the close of 1964, the beloved entertainer also learned that he had lung cancer. The six men arrested were all originally charged with "assault with intent to murder," but the charges were later changed to "conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor" for four of them. As if in recognition of the fact, his health began to deteriorate in the fall of 1964. His singing career and become Classics few short years, Cole was a jazz. Royal Dukes, five years after Coles death, Frank Sinatra announced his retirement from singing the ground injuring... Will not function correctly without them Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael Gate and! Demanded that the group sing himself as `` an entertainer, not for the money but to break barriers! 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