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.
Adelita
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Acampado se encontraba un regimiento
Y una moza que valiente lo segua
Locamente enamorada del sargento.
Popular entre la tropa era Adelita,
La mujer que el sargento idolatraba
Que adems de ser valiente era bonitaQue hasta el mismo coronel la respetaba.
Y se oa que deca
Aquel que tanto la quera
Si Adelita se fuera con otro
La seguira por tierra y por mar,
Si por mar en un buque de guerra
Si por tierra en un tren militar.
Si Adelita quisiera ser mi esposa,
Y si Adelita ya fuera mi mujer,
Le comprara un vestido de seda
Para llevarla a bailar al cuartel.
Y despus que termin la cruel batalla
Y la tropa regres a su campamento
Por la vez de una mujer que sollozaba
La plegaria se oy en el campamento.
Y al orla el sargento temeroso
De perder para siempre su adorada
Escondiendo su dolor bajo el reboso
A su amada le cant de esta manera
Y se oa que decaAquel que tanto se mora
Y si acaso yo muero en la guerra,
Y mi cadver lo van a sepultar,
Adelita, por Dios te lo ruego,
Que por m no vayas a llorar
The song "Adelita" is a traditional Mexican ballad that tells the story of a regiment camped on a steep mountain range. The soldiers are followed by a brave and beautiful woman named Adelita who is hopelessly in love with the sergeant. Adelita is highly respected among the troops because of her bravery and loyalty. The sergeant adores her and even the Colonel respects her. However, there is a fear that Adelita might leave him for someone else which causes the sergeant to express his love for her by saying that he will follow her no matter where she goes even if it means travelling by sea or land, and in war or peace time.
In the midst of a cruel battle and after the troops have returned to their camp, the pained cries of a woman can be heard. The sergeant fears losing Adelita, the love of his life, to death or to another, so he hides his pain behind his serape and sings this beautiful song to her. In it, he asks Adelita not to weep for him if he should die and be buried in the war. This song remains an iconic ballad in Mexico and is a testament to the enduring nature of love, loyalty, and bravery.
Line by Line Meaning
En lo alto de una abrupta serrana
At the top of a rugged mountain
Acampado se encontraba un regimiento
A regiment was camped
Y una moza que valiente lo segua
And a brave young woman who followed them
Locamente enamorada del sargento.
Madly in love with the sergeant.
Popular entre la tropa era Adelita,
Adelita was popular among the troop,
La mujer que el sargento idolatraba
The woman that the sergeant worshiped,
Que adems de ser valiente era bonita
Who, besides being brave, was also beautiful,
Que hasta el mismo coronel la respetaba.
Even the colonel respected her.
Y se oa que deca
And it was heard that he said
Aquel que tanto la quera
He who loved her so much
Si Adelita se fuera con otro
If Adelita went with someone else
La seguira por tierra y por mar,
He would follow her by land and by sea,
Si por mar en un buque de guerra
By sea, even on a warship,
Si por tierra en un tren militar.
By land, even on a military train.
Si Adelita quisiera ser mi esposa,
If Adelita wanted to be my wife,
Y si Adelita ya fuera mi mujer,
And if Adelita were already my wife,
Le comprara un vestido de seda
I would buy her a silk dress,
Para llevarla a bailar al cuartel.
To take her to dance at the garrison.
Y despus que termin la cruel batalla
And after the cruel battle ended,
Y la tropa regres a su campamento
And the troops returned to their camp,
Por la vez de una mujer que sollozaba
Because of a woman who was sobbing,
La plegaria se oy en el campamento.
The prayer was heard in the camp.
Y al orla el sargento temeroso
And when the fearful sergeant heard her,
De perder para siempre su adorada
That he might lose his beloved forever,
Escondiendo su dolor bajo el reboso
Hiding his pain under his cloak,
A su amada le cant de esta manera
He sang to his loved one in this way,
Y se oa que deca
And it was heard that he said
Aquel que tanto se mora
He who was dying so much
Y si acaso yo muero en la guerra,
And if I happen to die in the war,
Y mi cadver lo van a sepultar,
And they are going to bury my corpse,
Adelita, por Dios te lo ruego,
Adelita, I beg of you by God,
Que por m no vayas a llorar.
Do not cry for me.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@bcbcb8033
Nací en el 69....mi madre en el 24. Crecí escuchando a Nat.....y ahora reconozco y aprecio la gran música.
Maravilloso Nat.......inigualable 👏👏👏👏👏
@latercerapalabra
Por cierto leí una vez que Nat grabó temas en español NO precisamente para ganarse el público de habla hispana, porque él ya era super conocido y popular en latinoamerica con sus discos en inglés, la iniciativa surgió porque él admiraba la música popular latinoamericana y se atrevió a grabar temas en español en una época en la que muy pocos o practicamente ningún otro artista de habla inglesa se hubiera atrevido a hacerlo
@Lahijal_Kruguer
En mis horas muertas aprendí todas las canciones, pues su dicción era extrañamente hermosa ya que cada letra era importante para él. De esas cosas que emocionan sin saber porqué.
@mikiegea7873
Que bonita canción ❤
@jorgeenriquemunoz7159
Recuerdo de mi abuelita que la cantaba en los años 60, gracias Raiwons por compartirla.
@renatonunes2550
Great song. Great voice. NAT KING was one of America's greatest singers ever. He was KING indeed,
@yauco1945
I agree; he was one of the greatest singer in our continent named America. Not only of one country...
@eloisamontesdeoca2646
Su inolvidable melodía con cariño y. Respeto por ese grande. De. Estados unido.
@eduardoantonioarcilaangel194
Gracias Raiwons por estas hermosas melodías que has subido. Este Nat King Cole fue un grande de la música.Poemas hechos canción que escuchamos con una mezcla de nostalgia y alegría. Tal vez un día los jóvenes dejen morir esta música, pero gracias a personas como usted, los de la vieja guardia podremos seguirla disfrutando, hasta que nos marchemos para siempre, que ojalá sea escuchando viejas melodías.
@ADRIANARUIZ11
Gracias `por traer estos monstruos de la época ...que hasta hoy nos hacen vibrar. He crecido con estos temas... Ahora los comparto con mi pequeña niña Rocio ...Y lo mejor de todo es que le agrada !!! (Raiwons , gracias !!