Baseball
player Roy Campanella, right, is seen singing a duet with Nat King
Cole, center, as Campanella's wife Ruthe listens at New York City's
Copacabana nightclub, in this Nov. 7, 1958 file photo.
Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 300 stories
covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own
vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps
an introduction to something new.
How many of you are old enough to have grown up with the mellifluous sounds of Nat King Cole, and his pianistic artistry? A new biopic on his life and music is in the works, starring Colman Domingo. I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Singer, actor, and pianist Nathaniel Adams Coles, who the world
knew as ”Nat King Cole,” was born on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery,
Alabama and joined the ancestors on Feb. 15, 1965, in Santa Monica CA.
He was only 45 years old.
Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama,
to a Baptist minister and his wife, Cole moved with his family to
Chicago, Illinois, as a young child. Soon afterwards, at the age of
four, he gave his first public performance, singing "Yes, We Have No
Bananas" in a talent contest. Despite the fact that his older brother
Edward had to push him onstage, young Nat won a turkey.
Cole's mother, Perlina, taught him to play the piano in the hopes
that he would someday become a classic pianist. According to Maria Cole,
the singer's second wife, in her book, Nat King Cole: An Intimate Biography,
his musical talents were quickly put to practical, if not classical,
use. In kindergarten, he played piano for the teacher as musical
accompaniment to classroom games. By the time Cole was eleven, he and
his sister shared the piano duties of their father's ministry at the
True Light Baptist Church. But when he was sixteen, his interests turned
to jazz, and he formed his own group, the Royal Dukes. They played for
small change, or, as Maria Cole recounted, "when they couldn't get cash,
often settled for hot dogs and hamburgers." Nat did not sing, because
the other members of the group did not like his voice. Shortly
afterwards, however, Cole left the Dukes to join the group his brother
had formed, the Rogues of Rhythm.
The Rogues eventually joined the cast of "Shuffle Along," a black
musical revue. While Cole was serving as the revue's pianist, he became
acquainted with Nadine Robinson, one of its dancers. As the show was en
route to California, Robinson became Cole's first wife, but "Shuffle
Along" closed when it got to Long Beach, leaving Cole unemployed. He
began playing piano in Los Angeles area bars to support himself. In one
of these bars, Cole was discovered by another club owner, Bob Lewis, who
urged Cole to form a small backup group and drop the s from
his surname. Lewis wanted the more traditional quartet, but Cole could
only find two other suitable musicians--thus, with the help of Wesley
Prince on bass and Oscar Moore on guitar, the Nat Cole Swingsters Three
began their first steady job in Lewis's club.
Inspired by Earl Hines, Cole spent much of his teenage years in the
clubs of Chicago, listening to performances by jazz artists such as
Louis Armstrong and Earl “Fatha” Hines. He earned his nickname “King”
(inspired by the nursery rhyme “Old King Cole”) and dropped the “s” from
his surname when he began playing piano in the Chicago clubs.
Eventually, Cole and his older brother Eddie formed a jazz sextet, Eddie
Cole’s Swingsters, and made their recording debut for Decca Records in
1936. The brothers went on the road with the all-black musical revue
Shuffle Along the following year. When the tour ended in Los Angeles,
Nat Cole decided to remain there and pursue his career as jazz pianist.
In
this undated file photo, Eartha Kitt hugs Nat King Cole, playing the
piano in the role of W.C. Handy, in a scene from the 1958 movie "St.
Louis Blues.”
Fronting the King Cole Trio, Cole wrote, sang and played piano on
“That Ain’t Right,” recorded for Decca in 1941. The song became a No. 1
hit on Billboard’s Harlem Hit Parade (later the rhythm-and-blues charts)
in early 1943. The success of a second single for the Excelsior label,
“All for You,” resulted in a recording contract with Capitol Records.
The group’s first Capitol session, “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” topped
the black charts in 1944 and also crossed over to the folk and pop
charts. That success was followed by “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You”
and a No. 1 album, The King Cole Trio.
The trio’s R&B hits led to appearances on radio and television as
well as in films. Like its predecessor, the Capitol album The King Cole
Trio, Vol. II reached No. 1 in 1946. The group went on to conquer the
pop charts with its recordings of the Mel Torre/Robert Wells composition
“The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” which peaked at No. 3 in
1946, and “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons,” which climbed all the
way to No. 1 that same year.
After some personnel changes, Cole’s group was briefly known as Nat
“King” Cole and the Trio. Beginning with the 1950 single “Mona Lisa” – a
melancholy movie theme that became both a gold record and a No. 1 pop
hit – all of his subsequent releases were simply credited to Nat King
Cole. By the time he released the singles “Too Young” (1951) and his
signature song, “Unforgettable” (1952), Cole ranked alongside his
contemporaries Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dean Martin as one of the
premier voices in American music.
There are several documentaries about his life and career on
You Tube. I’ll post some of them here, and post even more in the
comments section below.
This 1991 documentary chronicles the life and career of Nat King
Cole, from jazz pianist to global singing sensation. Featuring
interviews with family and colleagues, it explores the artist's rise to
unprecedented success. The film also examines the societal barriers that
the performer faced.
Those interviewed in the documentary were asked: What was your favorite tune by Cole? Mine is “Nature Boy”:
Though Cole never referred to himself as an activist, he confronted racism in both overt and quiet ways. Scholars such as cultural theorist Stuart Hall and researcher Laura Pottinger define “quiet activism”
as modest, everyday acts of resistance – either implicitly or
explicitly political – that challenge dominant ideologies and power
structures. These acts often entail processes of production or
creativity.
Despite his commercial success, Cole faced relentless systemic and
personal racism. In 1948, he purchased a home in the affluent Hancock Park
neighborhood of Los Angeles, a move met with hostility; the local
homeowners association attempted to expel him, and he endured threats
and acts of vandalism.
[...]
Cole faced blatant discrimination in Las Vegas.
He was often denied access to the same hotels and restaurants where he
performed, forced to stay in segregated accommodations. One particularly
notable incident occurred at the Sands Hotel.
in Las Vegas. When the maitre d’ tried to deny service to Cole’s Black
bandmates in the dining room, Cole threatened to cancel his performance
and leave. This forced the hotel management to back down, setting a
precedent for other Black entertainers and patrons.
Cole quietly sued hotels and negotiated contracts
that guaranteed his right to stay in the hotels where he performed, a
significant step toward desegregation. He also made it a point to bring
his entire entourage, including Black musicians and friends, to these
establishments, challenging their “whites only” policies.
Cole’s impact extended beyond the realm of music. In 1956, he became
the first African American to host a national network television show,
“The Nat King Cole Show.” This was a groundbreaking moment, as it brought a Black man into the living rooms of millions of White Americans every week.
Though the show faced challenges with sponsorship due to racial
prejudice, it marked a significant step toward greater representation
and acceptance. As historian Donald Bogle notes in his 2001 book “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks,”
“Television … became a new battleground for the image of the Black
performer.” Cole’s show, despite its short run, was a crucial battle in
this war.
When Cole was attacked onstage by White supremacists
during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1956, it underscored the
physical danger Black public figures faced and galvanized Cole’s
commitment to the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1956, after being attacked by white supremacists, Cole recorded “We are Americans Too”:
I can remember watching his short-lived TV series with my whole family:
YouTube clips from Nat King Cole’s short-lived TV variety show, which
premiered in 1956, convey the singer’s legendary charm. Handsome,
elegant, impeccably dressed and graceful, Cole looked at ease on camera.
More than at ease: happy.
He sang beloved songs like “Unforgettable,” “Mona Lisa” and “Nature
Boy” in a soft baritone through a dreamy smile. From time to time, he’d
shoot a heart-melting sidelong glance straight into — or so it feels
even today — the viewer’s soul.
Nobody at home watching the live broadcast of “The Nat ‘King’ Cole
Show” could see the makeup artist standing by with a powder puff, ready
to fly into action if the host’s actual skin color showed through his
makeup. Even significantly lightened, his complexion was too dark for
many in 1950s America. Big advertisers were afraid of alienating
consumers, especially in the South. “The Nat ‘King’ Cole Show” never
landed a national sponsor, and NBC canceled it after a year.
Join me in the comments section below for more music. Please post your Nat King Cole favorites!
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