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.
Love Letters
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The night may be moonless
But deep in my heart there's a glow
For deep in my heart
I know that you love me, you love me
Because you told me so
Keep us so near while apart
I'm not alone in the night
When I can have all the love you write
I memorize every line
I kiss the name that you sign
And darling, then I read again right from the start
Love letters straight from your heart
Love letters straight from your heart
The song "Love Letters" by Nat King Cole is a touching ballad that portrays the power of love in a long distance relationship. The opening lines, "The sky may be starless, The night may be moonless, But deep in my heart there's a glow", suggest that even if external factors may be bleak, his heart thaws and glows from the love of his partner, which is the light he follows even in a long-distance relationship. The second line, "For deep in my heart I know that you love me, you love me, Because you told me so", reiterates that he feels loved and secure even when they are apart, knowing that his significant other loves him.
The chorus "Love letters straight from your heart, Keep us so near while apart, I'm not alone in the night, When I can have all the love you write" stresses the importance of written communication in their relationship. The letters keep them together even though they are physically apart, making him feel like she is always near him. The following lines, "I memorize every line, I kiss the name that you sign, And darling, then I read again right from the start, Love letters straight from your heart, Love letters straight from your heart" implies how crucial these letters are to him. He cherishes every written line, kisses her sign name, and finds himself reading them over and over again, taking strength from them.
Line by Line Meaning
The sky may be starless
Even if the sky is devoid of stars
The night may be moonless
Even if there is no moon in the sky at night
But deep in my heart there's a glow
I feel a warm, glowing feeling in my heart
For deep in my heart
Because I feel so strongly in my heart
I know that you love me, you love me
I am confident that you love me
Because you told me so
Because you have explicitly expressed your love for me
Love letters straight from your heart
Love letters that come straight from your heart
Keep us so near while apart
Bring us closer together even when we're apart
I'm not alone in the night
I don't feel lonely at night
When I can have all the love you write
Because I can read and feel all the love you express through your writing
I memorize every line
I commit every line to memory
I kiss the name that you sign
I show affection to your signature by kissing it
And darling, then I read again right from the start
And then, my dear, I read the entire letter again from the very beginning
Love letters straight from your heart
Love letters that come straight from your heart
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Victor Young, Edward Heyman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kirby19711
Hi Mr.King,
I agree with you. .. Sinatra loved Nat.
I remember the day he passed. ...I was 14... He's my all time favorite artist.
Have a wonderful July 4th!
God bless you, family, friends,pets .. If you have pets.
@lala-gj4oo
no one can sing the way he did. such a distinctive voice
@sridharmahadevan7694
Fully agree
@ianwhitehead4337
A voice of pure Gold. We'll never see his like again.
@vwtoujours
my Dad's favorite song, with one of his favorite singers! for you Daddy! I miss you , give Mom a hug for me in heaven!
@karenwilliams8285
Always have Loved this Classic song. Wonderfully Sung so beautifully by Nat King Cole
@davidhubbert9445
What a fine beautiful voice nat had Mr velvet I would say.
@jcfreema
I love Nat. Such a beautiful voice. Gone way too soon.
@raulitobegaso4638
Still one of my favorites! Timeless...
@opaulamorgan4265
An "unforgettable" voice. RIP Nat "King" Cole🎶💗💐 see
@morrismims5327
Greatest voice ever.