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Nat "King" Cole (March 17, 1919 - February 15, 1965) was a hugely popular American singer and jazz musician.

Childhood and Chicago

Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama. The year of his birth has been reported as 1917 and 1915, but according to Daniel Mark Epstein's biography, the 1920 Census reported Nat as an infant.

Nat's father was a butcher in Montgomery and a deacon in the baptist church. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois while he was still a child. There, his father became a minister; Nat's his mother was the church organist, and it was she who taught him how to play piano. The family lived in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, which was famous in the late-20s for its nightlife and jazz clubs. Nat would sneak out of the house and hang outside the clubs, listening to artists like Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone. He participated in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School.

He began his performing career in the mid-1930s while he was still a teenager, and adopted the name "Nat Cole". His older brother, Eddie Coles, a bassist, soon joined Nat's band and they first recorded in 1936. They had some success as a local band in and around Chicago.

Los Angeles and the King Cole Trio

Nat married Nadine Robinson and moved to Los Angeles where he formed the Nat King Cole Trio. The trio consisted of Nat on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Wesley Prince on bass. The trio played in Los Angeles throughout the late 1930s and recorded many radio transcriptions.

Cole did not achieve widespread popularity until Sweet Lorraine in 1940. During World War II, Wesley Prince was drafted and Cole replaced him with Johnny Miller.

The King Cole Trio signed with the fledgling Capitol Records in the early 1940s and stayed with the recording company for the rest of his career. By the 1950s, Cole's popularity was so great that the Capitol Records building, on Hollywood and Vine, was sometimes referred to "The House that Nat Built".

Singing Career

In a move that was virtually unique at the time, Cole reached out to mainstream audiences with the number one hit Mona Lisa in 1950. This began a new phase in his career, which had been primarily as a pop balladeer, though he never totally ignored his roots in jazz.

Cole was the first African-American to have his own radio program. He repeated that success in the late-1950s with the first truly national television show starring an African-American.

In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The property owners association told Cole they didn't want any undesirables moving in. Cole retorted "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."

He and his second wife, Maria Ellington, were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children, two adopted. His daughter, Natalie Cole, and his younger brother, Freddie Cole, are both singers. Ray Charles patterned himself after Nat, his idol, until he found his own unique style.

Nat King Cole died of lung cancer in 1965 and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Samples

• Download sample of "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66"

Notable Songs

• "Straighten Up and Fly Right"
• "Sweet Lorraine"
• "Nature Boy" (written by Eden Ahbez)
• "Mona Lisa"
• "Lush Life"
• "Ramblin' Rose"
• "Unforgettable"

• Jazz musicians