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.
Joy to the World
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven and nature sing
The Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
He rules the world
With truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, and wonders of His love
In the opening verse of Nat King Cole's "Joy to the World", the lyrics express the joyous celebration of the arrival of the Lord. It is a call for the earth to receive its King with open arms and hearts, and for the heavens and nature to join in the song of praise. The song then moves on to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the ruler of the world and the savior of humanity. The lyrics encourage all people to employ their songs in celebration, and for fields, floods, rocks, hills, and plains to join in the sounding joy. The final verse emphasizes the Lord's rule over the world with truth and grace, while proving the glories of His righteousness and the wonders of His love.
This hymn has been translated into many languages and is sung throughout the world during Christmas time with minor modifications to suit the various cultural and regional differences. It was first published in a collection of Four Hymns for Christmas in 1719 by Isaac Watts, a prolific English hymn writer, theologian, and logician. The tune for "Joy to the World" was not composed by Isaac Watts; it was based on Handel's music from the Messiah, composed in 1741.
Line by Line Meaning
Joy to the world
Let there be happiness and delight to all
The Lord is come
The Master has arrived
Let earth receive her King
The kingdom of our Earth is to embrace its King
Let every heart prepare Him room
Each soul needs to get ready for the King's arrival
And Heaven and nature sing
All of the cosmos is celebrating and bursting with joy
And Heaven and nature sing
All aspects of nature and Heaven itself celebrate and rejoice
And Heaven, and Heaven and nature sing
The wonder of the Lord's coming is being celebrated throughout Heaven and Earth
Joy to the world
Let there be happiness and delight to all
The Savior reigns
The Redemptor is in power
Let men their songs employ
Let people sing their praises
While fields and floods
While the plains and the rivers
Rocks, hills and plains
Mountains, hills, and plains are covered in joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Let the cheerful melody continue
Repeat the sounding joy
Let the cheery chorus repeat over and over
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
Continue with the celebratory song
He rules the world
He is the Ruler of the world
With truth and grace
Using truth and compassion
And makes the nations prove
And compels the Earth to recognize
The glories of His righteousness
The grandeur of His virtue
And wonders of His love
And the remarkable nature of His love
And wonders of His love
And the remarkable nature of His love
And wonders, and wonders of His love
And the extraordinary nature of His love is a wondrous thing
Lyrics Β© BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Edith Bergdahl, Traditional, Nat Cole
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Tme3316
Amen! βοΈ Merry Christmas Everyone! Happy Birthday Jesus! πππβοΈππππΏβοΈ
@AmyReed-bl2yb
First introduction to Elvis was listening to my mother's Christmas albums. Tradition was born. Not Christmas without Elvis!
@collin9338
Nat King Cole, Frabk Sinatra, and Bing Crosby, the three greats of classic Christmas music.
@collin9338
Frank Sinatra
@jgjg3848
and Perry Como
@nintengy64
and Andy Williams
@sylvia22277
johnny mathis
@ajburrr
the legend Frabk Sinatra
@soundwave6218
*JOY*...Alot of people at the time of his birth that was suffering didn't have a clue that their lives were about to change for the better and forever...Keep Thanking Believing and holding God's hand his timing is everything...
Vocal Point Hallelujah ππΎ
Have a Goodday everybodyπ«
@silversurfer805
Perfect song at Christmas and could not be none better than to have Nat King Cole singing it! RIP Mr. Cole: you'll be missed and always remembered.