As a piano player, he formed a jazz trio in 1938 that played Los Angeles nightclubs, one of the first jazz trios featuring guitar and piano. Prior to this he had played music since he was a child and had worked with bands since he was sixteen. He was raised in Chicago and exposed to the abundant jazz scene there. He was heavily influenced by pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines.
Later he became more popularly known as a singer and crooner and his work became more orchestrated.
His first mainstream vocal hit was in 1944 with Straighten Up and Fly Right, based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Although hardly a rocker, the song's success proved that an audience for folk-based material existed. It is considered a predecessor to the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing more pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period with such hits as The Christmas Song (1946), Nature Boy (1948), Mona Lisa (1950), and his signature tune Unforgettable (1951). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his musical roots; as late as 1956, for instance, he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight. In 1991, Mosaic Records released the Complete Nat King Cole Trio Recordings on Capitol, which contained 349 songs on twenty-seven LPs or eighteen CDs.
Throughout the 1950s Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including Smile, Pretend, A Blossom Fell, and If I May. Most of his pop hits were collaborations with famed arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle. It was with Riddle that Cole released his first ten-inch long-play album in 1953 entitled Sings for Two in Love. Several more albums followed, including the Gordon Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, which reached number one on the album charts in April 1957.
Inspired by a trip to Havana, Cuba in 1958, Nat went back there that same year and recorded Cole Espanol, an album sung entirely in Spanish and Portuguese. The album was a hit not only in the U.S., but in Latin America as well. The album was so popular, that two others followed: A mis amigos in 1959, and More Cole Espanol in 1962.
Musical tastes were changing in the late 1950s, and despite a successful stab at rock n' roll with Send for Me, Cole's ballad singing had grown old to younger listeners. Like contemporaries Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, Nat found that the pop singles chart had been almost entirely taken over by youth oriented acts. In 1960, Nat's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle, left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. The two parted ways with one final hit album Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Nat would later re-tool the concept album into an off-Broadway production called I'm With You.
As the 1960s progressed, Nat once again found success on the American singles chart, starting with the country/pop flavored hit Ramblin' Rose in August of 1962. Three more hit singles followed: Dear Lonely Hearts, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, and That Sunday, That Summer. Nat's final album was entitled L.O.V.E, and was recorded in late 1964. It was released just prior to his death and reached number four on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A "Best Of" album went gold in 1968. His 1957 song When I Fall in Love was a chart topping hit for the U.K. in 1987.
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 both cases, the programs were ultimately canceled because sponsors shied away from a black artist. Cole fought racism all his life, refusing to perform in segregated venues. In 1956, he was attacked on stage in Birmingham, Alabama by members of the White Citizens' Council who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. Despite injuries, Cole completed the show but vowed never to perform in the South again.
On 23rd August 1956, Cole spoke at the Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California. He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960, to throw his support behind President John F. Kennedy. Cole was also among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Nat King Cole frequently consulted with President Kennedy (and later President Johnson) on the issue of civil rights. Yet he was dogged by critics, who felt he shied away from controversy when it came to the civil rights issue. Among the most notable was Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was upset that Cole didn't take stronger action after the 1956 on-stage attack.
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, to which 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, including twin girls. Daughter Carol Cole, and son Kelly Cole were adopted. Kelly Cole died in 1995. Nat's daughter, Natalie Cole, and his younger brother, Freddie Cole are also singers.
Natalie and her father had an unexpected hit in the summer of 1991. The younger Cole mixed a 1961 recording of her father's rendition of Unforgettable with her own voice, creating an electronic duet. Both the song and the album of the same name won several Grammy awards the following year.
Cole performed in many short films, and played W. C. Handy in the film Saint Louis Blues. He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia.
Nat King Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had (Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose). Cole died of lung cancer at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, on 15th February 1965. His funeral was held at St. Victor's Catholic Church in West Hollywood, and he was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Cat Ballou, his final film, was released several months later.
A House With Love At Christmas
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Although there are a thousand things that house may need
The carpet may be old, the room so plain and bare
And yet it's beautiful somehow when love is living there
A house with love in it just seems to bloom
As though the month of may were filling every room
So darling true the years with all my heart I'll pray
A house with love in it is where we'll stay
So darling true the years with all my heart I'll pray
A house with love in it is where we'll stay.
Nat King Cole's "A House With Love in It" is a charmingly simple, yet poignant song about the power of love to transform a home. The opening line sets the tone, proclaiming that a house filled with love is "rich indeed." This sentiment is reinforced throughout the song, with the singer acknowledging that a home with love in it can make up for any number of material deficiencies. Even if the carpet is old and the room is plain and bare, the house is still beautiful when love is present.
The second verse builds on this idea, describing how a house with love in it seems to bloom like the month of May. Love is depicted as a living thing, filling up every room of the house and bringing new life and energy to the space. The final lines of the song are an earnest prayer from the singer to stay in a house with love as he and his beloved grow old together.
Overall, these lyrics are a gentle and heartfelt reminder that the intangible qualities of love and warmth are what make a house feel like a true home, rather than its material possessions or decor.
Line by Line Meaning
A house with love in it is rich indeed
A home that is filled with love is truly wealthy and abundant in blessings
Although there are a thousand things that house may need
Despite the fact that many material things may be lacking within that home
The carpet may be old, the room so plain and bare
The decor or furnishings may be worn out or plain
And yet it's beautiful somehow when love is living there
Nevertheless, the home radiates a sense of beauty and joy because of the presence of love within it
A house with love in it just seems to bloom
A home filled with love appears to flourish and blossom
As though the month of may were filling every room
It exudes a feeling of spring-like freshness and vitality
So darling true the years with all my heart I'll pray
My love, I vow to pray for nothing else but the presence of love within our home for years to come
A house with love in it is where we'll stay
Our home will be where love thrives and remains constant throughout our lives
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Written by: SID LIPPMAN, SYLVIA DEE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@0thersidebymoon
Such an accurate message. Even if you're struggling financially you can't beat having love and support.
@kevinceniceros3618
Number one gift on my list: an AM radio transmitter. That way I can play my own music from my phone and stream it wirelessly through my 1948 Gilfillan portable radio.
@katenswayne8672
What a great idea.. Thank you
@frankcivitak8248
Hall of fame classic my favorite
@user-xs7sw6iv3z
So pretty
@r.romandse8329
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎼🎁🌍
Suscribed to this Channel 🎇🎹💖