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He became a popular crooner in the 1950s, and made history when he became the first Black man to host a regular TV variety show. , Ed Sheeran announces release of acoustic album Subtract, 10 years in the making, Albums coming in 2023: Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Mimi Webb and more, Who is Mae Stephens - the 19-year-old behind viral hit If We Ever Broke Up, Official Trending Chart: Pink, Niall, Mae Stephens and more, Americana albums to look forward to in 2023, It's Gorillaz vs. Gracie Abrams for this week's Number 1 album. Basin Street Revue. Cole was only 17. Complete After Midnight Sessions 4 Bonus Tracks / 24Bit Digitally. 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. Naxos of America / OKeh Records AllMusic Quiz. They tried a couple of places, including Beverly Hills, but ultimately wanted somewhere away from the paparazzi and rowdy fans. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. But after some prodding from the manager who insisted since the customer was a "big spender," Cole agreed. Throughout his career, Cole remained extremely close to his wife, Maria, and to their five children, Carol, Natalie, Kelly, and the twins, Timolin and Casey. The Tragic Death Of Nat King Cole Explained. Audio CD. Carole signed the papers and rushed home, where Nat would die on Feb. 15, 1965. Cole praised NBC for its support and directly blamed the advertising industry. The female solo artists with the most Number 1 albums, Miley Cyrus reigns at Number 1 for a sixth consecutive week with Flowers, NAT 'KING' COLE SINGS AND THE GEORGE SHEARING QUINTET PLAYS. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cole was aware of his impending death. 49, no. His enjoyable personality landed him the iconic gig as the host of his very own nationally televised show, as told by NPR. Thousands flocked to build a life on South . Once a week, Americans tuned in to watch as Cole and other musicians performed on television (via Indiana Public Media). Initially begun as a 15-minute show on Monday night, the show was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. For a brief time when it debuted, the show had no sponsors. His keyboarding had actually begun at age four, when he picked out Yes, We Have No Bananas, on the family piano. Unfortunately, from the beginning,The Nat King Cole Show always struggled with one thing: sponsors. Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing more pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, often accompanied by a string orchestra. Among them were Nat Cole and his family. Each phrase is laid out with soft-spoken clarity and every syllable, even the second syllable in flower, comes through with etched but unexaggerated precision (so much so that one instantly notices his rare lapses from standard pronunciation, as when he makes mere and idea rhyme). The King Cole Trio signed with the fledgling Capitol Records in 1943 and Cole stayed with the recording company for the rest of his career. 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. 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. This article contains a list of albums by Nat King Cole and compilations of his recordings, together with a list of his chart singles. Sold for 32.24 USD on 22 Mar 2022 (4 bids) 78 rpm. Nat King Cole albums and discography on AllMusic including all best, old, and new album information. Nat King Cole recorded this for the first time in 1946 with his group The Nat King Cole Trio. 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"). The advertising executives of Madison Avenue refused to risk alienating their white audience base, who was likely to respond with prejudice to a show hosted by a Black American, even one as popular and admired as Nat King Cole. When Cole was on tour that spring, he traveled to the South, including his birth state of Alabama, and performed for an all-white audience in Birmingham. He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960 to throw his support behind President John F. Kennedy. Cole, a heavy smoker who would smoke as much as three packs of cigarettes a day, died of lung cancer while still at the height of his singing career. Maria Cole [1] ( ne Hawkins; August 1, 1922 - July 10, 2012) was an American jazz singer and the wife of singer Nat King Cole; mother of the singer Natalie Cole. Get notified of exciting GRAMMY Award news and upcoming events! Lost your password? He was, without a doubt, a pioneer, but that doesn't mean his many successes came without struggles. He had always looked for work as a pianist and "played piano at almost every beer joint from San Diego to Bakersfield" before he finally landed a residency. Cole was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Cat Ballou (1965), his final film, was released several months after his death. 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. The couple's lavish Harlem wedding took place only six days after Cole and Robinson's divorce was finalized. While on a Louis Blues. During the early 60s, Cole also travelled extensively, doing highly successful concert tours of Latin America, Japan, the European Continent and England. The Weeknd? Cole mastered this style as a teenager, adding to it an idiomatic feel for the blues that Hines lacked, along with a forward-looking harmonic vocabulary that prefigured bebop, the avant-garde jazz style of the 40s. His father was a preacher in the Baptist church. Later, in 1953, he recorded a rearrangement made by Nelson Riddle. Cole did not finish the concert and never again performed in the South. 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. 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). Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919 (although 1916 and 1917 have also been cited), in Montgomery, Alabama, Cole was born into a family with a . 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? (As Cole himself said when asked to compare himself to Sinatra, the band swings Frank. In the days leading up to Cole's death, he was able to go on short drives with his wife and visit his children at their family home in Hancock Park. As a toddler, he learned to play the piano (via Biography). Facing death himself, Cole was also dealing with grief. He passed away. His talents extended beyond singing and piano playing: he excelled as a relaxed and humorous stage personality, and he was also a capable actor, evidenced by his performances in the films Istanbul (1957), China Gate (1957), Night of the Quarter Moon (1959), and Cat Ballou (1965); he also played himself in The Nat King Cole Musical Story (1955) and portrayed blues legend W.C. Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including "Smile," "Pretend," "A Blossom Fell," "If I May." 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. He learned not only jazz and gospel music, but European classical music as well. Featured New Releases . In Cole, Nat King. The diagnosis would cut Cole's life very short, because he died not long after the discovery. Something went wrong. By Robert Pace 6:00 AM PDT, June 25, 2013. First airing in November 1956,The Nat King Cole Show was the very first time that a Black man was able to host a variety program, a historic development which saw Americans all across the country turning on their televisions to welcome an African-American host into their homes. Record Of The Year Ramblin' Rose (Single) More from the 5th A Awards. Booklet Volumes 3 and 4 contain 3 shellac records. In 1956, Nat King Cole was a superstar, selling millions of records and touring all over the country. His family relocated to Chicago when he was very young, and both of his parents were active church members. 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. By the 1950s, he worked almost exclusively as a singer, with such notable arrangers as Nelson Riddle and Billy May providing lush orchestral accompaniment. Jazz singer Nat King Cole was best known for songs like "The Christmas Song" and "Ramblin' Rose" (via Billboard).He became a popular crooner in the 1950s, and made history when he became the first Black man to host a regular TV variety show. Cole was considered a leading jazz pianist, appearing, for example, in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts (credited on the Mercury Record labels as "Shorty Nadine," apparently derived from the name of his wife at the time). Reportedly, the all-white audience begged Cole to continue with the show, but he fervently refused and flew to Chicago after canceling his remaining three performances in the South. 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. ", Singer and actress Eartha Kitt, one of the program's guest stars, later reflected that Cole's sophisticated image, elegance, and interaction with white performers as equals "was dangerous" in an era when blacks appearing on television regularly were only in comic or subservient roles. Cole died in his sleep at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. 1936-1955. Noted for his warm tone and flawless phrasing, Cole was regarded among the top male vocalists, although jazz critics tended to regret his near-abandonment of the piano. 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. In 1991, Mosaic Records released The Complete Capitol Records Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio, a compilation of 349 songs available as an 18-CD or a 27-LP set. Have one to sell? The attack began at the rear of the auditorium when three men ran down the aisles towards Cole and his band. Instead, his most publicized relationship was his marriage to Maria Hawkins Ellington. This page was last edited on 11 November 2022, at 01:27. There were several covers of Nat Cole's original record in the 1940s. Web. February 15, 1957. Nat was piano player and leader of the combo. He formed his first jazz group, the Royal Dukes, five years later. 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. 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. Privacy Policy. Always a perfectionist, Cole put full effort into re-recording the entire song, and that first rendition has now become something of a collector's edition. For "Wild Is Love" Best Vocal Performance Album, Male. When singing "To see if reindeer really know how to fly," he mistakenly sang "reindeers." He also performed as a pianist on sessions with Lester Young, Red Callender, and Lionel Hampton. While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956, he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight. . In a few short years, Cole dropped out of school at 15 years old to focus solely on pursuing a career in music. 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. When he was attacked in Birmingham, Alabama, by a group of white supremacists, he was baffled at the violence he endured, saying, "I can't understand it. Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, #1 on the album charts in April 1957. 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. WhileThe Nat King Cole Show was a significant move toward racial integration in media, Cole and the showrunners were still aware of the racial divisions that existed in the country. Sell it yourself. [10] In December 2011, Billboard began a Holiday Songs chart with 50 positions that monitors the last five weeks of each year to "rank the top holiday hits of all eras using the same methodology as the Hot 100, blending streaming, airplay, and sales data",[11] and in 2013 the number of positions on the chart was doubled, resulting in the Holiday 100. Despite the fact that Nat King Cole is revered today as a vocal legend, he never intentionally pursued a singing career. Coles singing career began inadvertently when a tipsy customer at a small Hollywood bistro insisted that he sing, Sweet Lorraine, which he did to an enthused response, not only from the drunk, but from the entire audience as well. To that end, she persuaded him to move to Hancock Park, a wealthy, all-white Los Angeles neighborhood whose residents refused to accept the family (anonymous vandals burned a racial slur into their front lawn). "Smile" by Nat King Cole. 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