March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, AL. In 1937, after touring with a Black musical revue, he began playing in jazz clubs in Los Angeles. 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. He barely had visitors, as they were apparently barred from his hospital room. In 1955, he acted as himself in a short biographical film,The Nat "King" Cole Musical Story, whichcovered his musical career and life story. AllMusic. Cole Wont Rock and Roll (1962) that served only to make him look even further out of touch. Displaying items, You can list a specific format by selecting one here, 78 RPM RECORD CAPITOL 2130 NAT KING COLE FUNNY, Vintage King Cole Trio 78rpm 4 Album Set Capitol Records, Capital presents THE KING COLE TRIO 78 RPM RECORDS Vol 1 and 2 BD-8 BD-29 Debut, The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole Trio - Capital 15201 - vintage 78rpm record, two vintage Nat King Cole Christmas songs 78rpm records - Frosty the Snow Man, Nat King Cole 78 RPM Capitol The Christmas Song My Two Front Teeth 1954 10" 2955, The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole Trio - Capital 311 - vintage 78rpm record, (4) 78 rpm 10" records Nat King Cole Capitol 1808-1501-2346-2687 (UNFORGETTABLE), King Cole Trio 78rpm Set Capitol Records #BD 8 New Old Stock, unopened, NAT "KING" COLE : THE CHRISTMAS SONG / NATURE BOY. Lost your password? His family later moved north to Chicago, where he grew up. In July 1948, Nat King Cole and his new wife began house-hunting, as described by Curbed. Handy and acted alongside Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway, was the only film where he had a major starring role. Nat King Cole. . His pop hits were collaborations with well-known arrangers and conductors of the day, including Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael. He even left the hospital to see his children one last time in a brief car ride home with his wife. Volume 4 is also issued in a box set of three 45-rpm records. Back to home page | Active. Cole was dedicated to seeing the pioneering show succeed, not for the money but to break down barriers and disprove racial prejudices. For "Ramblin' Rose" 1962 Nominee Grammy: Album of the Year. 11 offers from $53.29. 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 . By the 1950s, Nat King Cole had become a household name. 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." One cosmetics representative claimed that a "negro" couldn't sell lipstick, to which Cole angrily responded, "What do they think we use? Nat King Cole The Christmas Song LP Red Colored 180g Vinyl. Sold for 32.24 USD on 22 Mar 2022 (4 bids) 78 rpm. This article contains a list of albums by Nat King Cole and compilations of his recordings, together with a list of his chart singles. Corrections? Cole, who was greatly disappointed, made the difficult decision to pull the plug on the program. When singing "To see if reindeer really know how to fly," he mistakenly sang "reindeers." Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. 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 . Album of the Year (Other Than Classical) For "The Nat "King" Cole Story" 1961 Nominee Grammy: Album of the Year. Click here to send a letter to the editor. 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. 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. 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. I swing the band.) But it was his recordings of ballads that made him a household name, and among the most memorable of them is the version of Ray Nobles The Very Thought of You that he cut with Gordon Jenkins, another of Sinatras preferred arrangers, in 1958. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policy unless you have disabled them. But while Coles studies were central to his artistic development, he became obsessed early on with jazz in general and the pianism of Earl Hines in particular. During the late 1930s and early 40s the trio made several instrumental recordings, as well as others that featured their harmonizing vocals. Pelote, Vincent. Born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama, Cole's first introduction to music was in the church. Nat King Cole was making and setting records for his celebrated music decades before Elvis Presley and The Beatles arrived on the scene. November 23, 2019. Not until 1951 did Cole drop the trio for good, but in the ensuing years he had recorded a series of orchestra-accompanied ballads, among them Mona Lisa, Nature Boy, and Too Young, that made his artistic intentions clear. 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. Instead, his most publicized relationship was his marriage to Maria Hawkins Ellington. Personal Life Cole married for the first time when he was only 17. The Nat King Cole story is a tale of two major talents, both owned by the same person. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was five, where his father Edward James Coles was a Baptist minister. However, he was with his wife during his illness and she stayed with him until his death. But while the start of the '60s seemed very promising for Cole, he faced with some tragic news. 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. Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including "Smile," "Pretend," "A Blossom Fell," "If I May." He and his first wife, Nadine Robinson,. Nat learned to play the organ from his mother until the age of 12, when he began formal lessons. 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. 10731074, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 05:16. 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. His hit song "Ramblin' Rose" jump-started a slight decline that crept up at the end of the '50s. King Cole!" The name stuck. As told by Marianne Ruuth in her bookNat King Cole,he grew up in Chicago deeply entrenched in religious music, with a gospel choir leader for a mother and a reverend for a father. The brothers were also hired to perform in the "revival of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle Along" for their Chicago stop. Nat King Cole 78rpm Single 10-inch Capitol Records #1449 Too Young, Nat King Cole 78rpm Single 10-inch Capitol Records #1010 Mona Lisa, Stan Kenton & Nat King Cole/ Jam-bo/ Orange colored sky Schellack 78 rpm, NAT KING COLE 78 RPM GRAMOPHONE RECORDS X 8. Cole was only 17. There were several covers of Nat Cole's original record in the 1940s. But fame doesn't negate racist sentiments and violence. Unlike Sinatra, Cole was not a confessional performer whose interpretations reflected the dark side of his personality. On August 23, 1956, Cole spoke at the Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California. He rejected it, cheekily requesting $1 million instead. His mom, an amateur piano player herself, gave him piano lessons when he was as young as four years old, with "Yes, We Have No Bananas" being the first song he ever learned to play. In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. As of the spring of 1950, Cole's recordings were being credited simply to "Nat King Cole." On July 8 of that year, his recording of the wistful movie theme "Mona Lisa," featuring a string chart arranged by Nelson Riddle, became Cole's third number one pop hit and gold record. 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 frequently sang in between instrumental numbers, and noticing that people started to request more vocal numbers, he obliged. Twin girls Casey and Timolin were born in 1961. Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP legal counsel at the time, even saw Cole as an "Uncle Tom." "I lost my baby in December. The show ultimately failed due to its inability to attract national sponsors because the program was hosted by a black person. 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. Incomparable Nat King Cole II. 2nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. He churned out song after song, including classics like "Unforgettable" and "Mona Lisa." This article contains a list of albums by Nat King Cole and compilations of his recordings, together with a list of his chart singles. with Love. Gone too soon at only 45 years old, Cole still managed to leave a lasting impact on music, culture, and history. UK. 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). 49, no. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. Cole's family moved to Chicago, Illinois, while he was still a child. 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! While on a Comparatively few of Coles latter-day fans, however, know that he was more than a singer. Carlos Gastel, Coles manager, now started thinking of him not as a singer-pianist but as a stand-up vocalist who played piano on the side. 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. 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. 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). "Madison Avenue," Cole said, "is afraid of the dark. 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. His otherwise smooth-textured voice had a faintly gravelly quality heightened by his chain smoking, and he sang with tuning-fork intonation and lapidary enunciation, though his drawn-out pronunciation of certain vowels, the long i of I and my in particular, was so idiosyncratic that Sammy Davis Jr. exaggerated it to witty effect in his uncanny impersonation of Cole (which can be viewed on YouTube). Natalie recorded his hit "Unforgettable" and put their vocals together as a duet. Cole Espanol: Greatest Hits by Nat King Cole (Record, 2018) (5) $18.48 New. He died on February 15, 1965, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California and his funeral was held in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the cancer had spread. 78.rpm (1948), NAT KING COLE THE CHRISTMAS SONG, LAGUNA MOOD 10 INCH 78 RPM VG, Nat King Cole 78 RPM Capitol 4754 The Christmas Song My Two Front Teeth, Nat King Cole 78 RPM Capitol 4754 The Christmas Song My Two Front Teeth 1954 10", The King Cole Trio The Christmas Song 78 RPM Well-Torme Capitol 311 Dust Cover. 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. In 1960, Nat's long-time collaborator Nelson Riddle left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. [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. The invasion of the stage was quickly contained by local law enforcement but in the ensuing mele Cole was toppled from his piano bench and injured his back. His last album, L-O-V-E, was recorded in early December 1964just a few days before entering the hospital for treatmentand released just prior to his death; it peaked at number four on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. By the start of the 1960s, Cole was only getting more popular. In the 1960s, he became the first nationally known black artist to host a television show, but it was canceled after one year because a national sponsor could not be found. But after some prodding from the manager who insisted since the customer was a "big spender," Cole agreed. What some may not know, though, is that he recorded four versions of the song. A wholly mainstream singer and entertainer, Cole was eventually offered his own TV show, which he very much wanted. Profiles In Jazz. While Coles reputation went into a temporary eclipse as a result of his early deatha lifelong chain smoker, he died of lung cancer in 1965, three decades before Sinatra gave his last public performancehe was restored to prominence in 1991 when his daughter Natalie, herself a talented pop singer, released a single of Unforgettable in which his original performance of the song, recorded 40 years earlier, was electronically superimposed on her own to create a virtual duet. The record put Cole back in the limelight, and he has been there ever since. The next month, he underwent surgery to remove the lung, but it was too late. Cole appeared frequently on popular variety programs hosted by Perry Como, Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, and others. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. According to Performing Songwriter, it was the first time that a holiday classic was introduced by a Black American, and it "opened the door for Lou Rawls, Ray Charles and many others to record their own takes on yuletide classics.". According to police, a plan had been developed four days earlier for a group of 150 white men to attack Cole. Nat King Cole - Where Did Everybody Go - Used Vinyl Record lp - E34A. Subjected to all the barriers of the Jim Crow era, Cole's unprecedented success helped advance Black Americans' role in media, and while he never considered himself an activist, he would directly challenge segregation and contribute to the Civil Rights Movement. Chalk? How do the traditional Christmas standards perform on the chart? While there were some difficulties regarding the whole event the Waldorf Astoria refused to host the wedding because they were Black, and Ellington's aunt (who'd raised her) boycotted the wedding because of Cole's lower-class status the marriage would last until Cole's death in 1965 (via Harlem World Magazine). Feb. 28, 2023 2 PM PT. 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. As written by Marianne Ruuth, Cole saw himself as "an entertainer, not a politician." Eddie strongly encouraged Nat to learn how to read music and become proficient in the technical side of piano playing. 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. Oxford Music Online. Although her father, Nat King Cole, passed away when she was just a teenager, Natalie Cole has still been able to perform duets with her father via . , 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. Children: 5, including Natalie Cole. I think I've finally got this cancer licked.". (This special compilation also was available as a 27 high-quality LP record set.). Of course, in the mid-20th century, smoking was irresistibly popular. 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. Not much is publicly known about this first marriage, which came to an end about 11 years later in 1948. Oxford University Press. His rendition of "Sweet Lorraine" was so well-received that he continued to sing, and his pure musical talent, both vocally and on the piano, began to get the attention it deserved. 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. Ballerina, Funny, The Continental, I Wish You Love, You Leave Me Breathless, Thou Swell, My Kind Of Love, Surrey With The Fringe On Top, Where Or When, Miss Otis Regrets, Joe Turner's Blues, Mr. Cole Won't . Naacp legal counsel at the end of the song instead, his most publicized relationship was his marriage to Hawkins... 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