Nat King Cole

American singer and jazz pianist

Photo by: William P. Gottlieb · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons

Born:March 17, 1919

Died:February 15, 1965

Age at death:45

Manner of death:Natural Causes

Cause of death:Lung Cancer

Zodiac Sign:Pisces

Born in:Montgomery, United States

Residence:Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, United States

Buried in:United States

Languages:English

Jazz Musician Singer Actor Jazz Guitarist Musician Pianist Singer-songwriter Television Actor

Signature

Related People

Daughter: Natalie Cole

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Photo credits (2)

Nat King Cole:
Photo by: William P. Gottlieb · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons
Natalie Cole:
Photo by: John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Links

Wikipedia Official Website IMDb Facebook YouTube

Famous For

Movies & TV

Cat BallouThe Blue GardeniaIstanbulSmall Town GirlChina Gate

Songs & Albums

SmileQuizás, quizás, quizásMona LisaTea for TwoNature Boy

Awards

Latin Grammy Hall of Fame (2007)Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2000)Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990)star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Nat King Cole

American singer and jazz pianist

Biography

Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades, during which he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. Cole began his career as a jazz pianist in the late 1930s, when he formed the King Cole Trio, which became the top-selling group (and the only black act) on Capitol Records in the 1940s. Cole's trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Starting in 1950, he transitioned to become a solo singer billed as Nat King Cole. Despite achieving mainstream success, Cole faced intense racial discrimination during his career. While not a major vocal public figure in the civil rights movement, Cole was a member of his local NAACP branch and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. He regularly performed for civil rights organizations. From 1956 to 1957, Cole hosted the NBC variety series The Nat King Cole Show, which became the first nationally broadcast television show hosted by a Black American. Some of Cole's most notable singles include "Unforgettable", "Smile", "A Blossom Fell", "Nature Boy", "When I Fall in Love", "Let There Be Love", "Mona Lisa", "Autumn Leaves", "Stardust", "Straighten Up and Fly Right", "The Very Thought of You", "For Sentimental Reasons", "Embraceable You" "Almost Like Being in Love", and "L-O-V-E". His 1960 Christmas album The Magic of Christmas (also known as The Christmas Song), was the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s; and was ranked as one of the 40 essential Christmas albums (2019) by Rolling Stone. In 2022, Cole's recording of "The Christmas Song", broke the record for the longest journey to the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, when it peaked at number nine, 62 years after it debuted on the chart; and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry. Cole received numerous accolades including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960) and a Special Achievement Golden Globe Award. Posthumously, Cole has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990), along with the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award (1992) and has been inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2000), and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2020). NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. Cole was the father of singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015), who covered her father's songs in the 1991 album Unforgettable... with Love.

This biography uses content from the Wikipedia article “Nat King Cole”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Quotes

“I felt something impossible for me to explain in words. Then when they took her away, it hit me. I got scared all over again and began to feel giddy. Then it came to me— I was a father.”

— Ebony (March 1950)

“Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”

— Comment on why his hit NBC TV show couldn't get a national sponsor. (1956) Quoted in article at the Songwriters Hall of Fame

“I … started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.”

— Spoken in VOA interview (c. 1956) broadcast on Pop Chronicles Show 22 - Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream.; Also on cassette 3, side B of Gilliland, John (1994) (audiobook). Pop Chronicles the 40's: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40's. Mind's Eye. ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. Pop Chronicles Interviews #131 - Nat "King" Cole.

Quotes sourced from the Wikiquote article "Nat King Cole", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Photos

Portrait of Nat King Cole, New York, N.Y.

Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Nat King Cole, New York, N.Y., ca. June 1947] 1 negative : b&w ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. Notes: Gottlieb Collection Assignment No. 081 Purchase William P. Gottlieb Forms part of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (Library of Congress). Subjects: Cole, Nat King, 1917-1965 Jazz musicians--1940-1950. Pianists--1940-1950. Jazz singers--1940-1950. Format: Portrait photographs--1940-1950. Film negatives--1940-1950. Rights Info: Mr. Gottlieb has dedicated these works to the public domain, but rights of privacy and publicity may apply. lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-copyrig... Repository: (negative) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (DLC) 99-401005 General information about the Gottlieb Collection is available at lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-home.html Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/gottlieb.10571 Call Number: LC-GLB23- 1057 Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is from the William P. Gottlieb collection at the Library of Congress. Rights and restrictions. In accordance with the wishes of William Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010.

Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Nat King Cole, New York, N.Y., ca. June 1947] 1 negative : b&w ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. Notes: Gottlieb Collection Assignment No. 081 Reference print available in Music Division, Library of Congress. Purchase William P. Gottlieb Forms part of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (Library of Congress). In: The Record Changer, v. 6, no. 4 (June 47, 1947), p. 9. Subjects: Cole, Nat King, 1917-1965 Jazz musicians--1940-1950. Pianists--1940-1950. Jazz singers--1940-1950. Format: Portrait photographs--1940-1950. Film negatives--1940-1950. Rights Info: Mr. Gottlieb has dedicated these works to the public domain, but rights of privacy and publicity may apply. lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-copyrig... Repository: (negative) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print (reference print) Library of Congress, Music Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, loc.gov/rr/perform/ Part Of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (DLC) 99-401005 General information about the Gottlieb Collection is available at lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-home.html Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/gottlieb.01511 Call Number: LC-GLB23- 0151 Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is from the William P. Gottlieb collection at the Library of Congress. Rights and restrictions. In accordance with the wishes of William Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010.

Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Oscar Moore, Nat King Cole, and Wesley Prince, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946] 1 negative : b&w ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. Caption from Down Beat: Here is a rehearsal shot of the King Cole Trio made by Bill Gottlieb, Beat staffer. In an adjoining column Bill writes about Nat Cole's interest in Latin-American music. Notes: Gottlieb Collection Assignment No. 080 Reference print available in Music Division, Library of Congress. Purchase William P. Gottlieb Forms part of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (Library of Congress). In: "Nat King Cole gets his trio set for concerts," Down Beat, v. 13, no. 14 (July 1, 1946), p. 2. Subjects: Moore, Oscar Cole, Nat King, 1917-1965 Prince, Wesley King Cole Trio Jazz musicians--1940-1950. Pianists--1940-1950. Jazz singers--1940-1950. Guitarists--1940-1950. Double bassists--1940-1950. Format: Portrait photographs--1940-1950. Group portraits--1940-1950. Film negatives--1940-1950. Rights Info: Mr. Gottlieb has dedicated these works to the public domain, but rights of privacy and publicity may apply. lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-copyrig... Repository: (negative) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print (reference print) Library of Congress, Music Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, loc.gov/rr/perform/ Part Of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (DLC) 99-401005 General information about the Gottlieb Collection is available at lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-home.html Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/gottlieb.01501 Call Number: LC-GLB13- 0150 Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is from the William P. Gottlieb collection at the Library of Congress. Rights and restrictions. In accordance with the wishes of William Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010.

Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Oscar Moore, Nat King Cole, and Wesley Prince, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946] 1 negative : b&w ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. Notes: Gottlieb Collection Assignment No. 080 Reference print available in Music Division, Library of Congress. Purchase William P. Gottlieb Forms part of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (Library of Congress). Subjects: Moore, Oscar Cole, Nat King, 1917-1965 Prince, Wesley King Cole Trio Jazz musicians--1940-1950. Pianists--1940-1950. Double bassists--1940-1950. Guitarists--1940-1950. Format: Portrait photographs--1940-1950. Cityscape photographs--1940-1950. Film negatives--1940-1950. Rights Info: Mr. Gottlieb has dedicated these works to the public domain, but rights of privacy and publicity may apply. lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-copyrig... Repository: (negative) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print (contact print) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print (reference print) Library of Congress, Music Division, Washington D.C. 20540 USA, loc.gov/rr/perform/ Part Of: William P. Gottlieb Collection (DLC) 99-401005 General information about the Gottlieb Collection is available at lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/gottlieb/gottlieb-home.html Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/gottlieb.01571 Call Number: LC-GLB13- 0157 Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is from the William P. Gottlieb collection at the Library of Congress. Rights and restrictions. In accordance with the wishes of William Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010.

CELEBRITY AT HOME—Nat (King) Cole at the piano in his Wilshire district home [Los Angeles] reflects the casual personality familiar to millions from his stage, night club, television and film appearances.