Cole was exposed to the greats of jazz, soul and blues at an early age and began performing at the age of 11. Her debut album in 1975, Inseparable, won her immediate praise, with the smash single This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (#1 R&B, #6 Pop) winning her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female, a category that had been monopolized by Aretha Franklin, since its inception in 1967. She also was named the Grammys' Best New Artist of 1975. She attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, MA.
More hits followed through 1980, including her biggest Pop hit, 1977's I've Got Love On My Mind, as well as Sophisticated Lady (She's A Different Lady) (1976), Our Love (1978), and Someone That I Used To Love (1980). "I've Got Love On My Mind" and "Our Love" both earned certifications as Gold singles. But then her career hit a snag in the early 1980s due to a severe drug problem. By 1985, Natalie was clean, sober, and in fine voice, and ready to begin her comeback in earnest with the album Dangerous, released on the Modern label.
In 1987, she released Everlasting (on EMI Manhattan) which sold over 2 million copies in the U.S., and won Cole a Soul Train Award for Female Single of the Year for the #1 R&B ballad I Live for Your Love. This album was the one that put Natalie Cole firmly back in the spotlight, yielding three major hit singles: Jump Start, "I Live For Your Love" (#2 AC and #13 Pop as well as #1 R&B), and a successful remake of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac (#5 Pop, #16 AC, and #1 Dance). The album also included a taste of things to come in her career with a remake of one of her father's signature hits, "When I Fall In Love," which did moderately well on the AC chart. In 1989, the aptly-titled Good To Be Back gave her another across-the-board smash with "Miss You Like Crazy" (#1 both R&B and AC, and #7 Pop).
However, it was her 1991 album, Unforgettable... with Love, featuring her own arrangements of her father's greatest hits, that gave her the most success. Ironically, when Natalie began her career, she was determined not to capitalize on her father's name and wanted to forge her own identity by going after the soul market in earnest. For many years, she also found the prospect of recording her late father's songs too painful on a personal level. But Unforgettable... With Love certainly paid off. The set sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone, and won Cole several Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The album featured a duet, the title track, with her father, created by splicing a recording of his vocals into the track. As a single, it reached #14 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart, and went gold. The one sour spot in the album's success was that it strained Natalie's already-tumultuous relationship with her mother, Maria, who said in interviews at the time that she couldn't listen to the album or attend any of her daughter's concerts because she felt that the music really belonged to her late husband.
Natalie has released several more albums of pop standards in the years since; as a result of appealing to the "adult standards" audience, she has made only occasional forays onto the pop singles charts in that time (for example, "A Smile Like Yours," #8 AC and #84 Pop in 1997), although her albums still sell well. Her 1999 album Snowfall On The Sahara marked a return to the easy adult-contemporary soul that categorized her late-1980s hits, but for 2002's critically-praised Ask A Woman Who Knows, she turned more to the jazz side of the spectrum, covering songs made famous by Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughan.
Battle With Drugs
In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, Angel on my Shoulder, which described her battle with drugs during much of her life. In the book, Cole admitted to using LSD, heroin and crack cocaine. Cole said she began experimenting with drugs while attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was arrested in Toronto, Canada for possession of heroin in 1975. Cole continued to spiral out of control - including an incident in which her young son Robert nearly drowned in the family swimming pool while she and her first husband, the late Reverend Marvin Yancy were on a drug binge - until she entered rehab in 1983.
In concert with the release of the book, her autobiography was turned into a made-for-TV movie, The Natalie Cole Story, which aired December 10, 2000 on NBC.
Natalie has been married three times and has a son Robert Yancy (by Marvin Yancy), born in 1977. She later married former Rufus drummer Andre Fischer, who co-produced the Grammy Award-winning Unforgettable... With Love, Natalie's love offering featuring songs made famous by her father, including a faux-duet between her and her father.
The marriage to Fischer ended in divorce a few years later, amidst rumors of domestic verbal and physical abuse.
It has also been reported that Natalie has recovered from a life-threatening hepatitis illness (most likely the cause of her years of drug abuse) by having a liver transplant.
Miss Cole went on to release more albums after Unforgettable...With Love, with most of them featuring jazz-oriented standard songs or pop-song remakes. None of the albums were nearly as successful as Unforgettable...With Love.
As of 2013, Natalie Cole spent most of her professional time covering the concert circuit entertaining audiences around the world with her hits.
On December 31, 2015, Natalie Cole died from congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was aged 65.
Almost Like Being In Love
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What a rare mood I'm in!
Why, it's almost like being in love
There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why it's almost like being in love
Like a bell that is ringing for me
And from the way that I feel
When the bell starts to peal
I would swear I was falling
I could swear I was falling
It's almost like being in love
The lyrics to Natalie Cole's song, Almost Like Being In Love, speak of a joyful feeling that is akin to being in love. The opening line, "What a day this has been!" indicates that it has been a particularly good day for her. The phrase "What a rare mood I'm in!" implies that this feeling is unusual for her, but she is enjoying it regardless. The repetition of the line "Why it's almost like being in love" reinforces the idea that she is experiencing something similar to the euphoria of falling in love.
The next two lines, "There's a smile on my face, For the whole human race," indicate that her happiness is all-encompassing and not directed towards any particular person. It's as if she has a general fondness for everyone around her. The following lines speak of how the music of life seems to be ringing out like a bell just for her. And when it does, she feels as though she is falling - a feeling commonly associated with falling in love.
The song ends on the same note of joy it began with, "It's almost like being in love." This song is a testament to the fact that it's possible to experience a great deal of happiness and joy without necessarily being in love with someone. It's about feeling exuberant just for the sake of it.
Line by Line Meaning
What a day this has been!
Today has been an extraordinary day!
What a rare mood I'm in!
I'm feeling an uncommonly, unusual mood!
Why, it's almost like being in love
My feelings are so intense, it's comparable to being in love!
There's a smile on my face
I'm overjoyed and grinning from ear to ear!
For the whole human race
I feel a love for all humanity!
Why it's almost like being in love
My emotions are so potent, it's like feeling love!
All the music of life seems to be
Every aspect of life feels like it's musical!
Like a bell that is ringing for me
It's like a personal signal, just for me!
And from the way that I feel
My feelings are so fierce!
When the bell starts to peal
As soon as the signal goes off!
I would swear I was falling
I'm feeling like I'm falling over with emotions!
I could swear I was falling
My sensations are so strong, it's like I'm falling over!
It's almost like being in love
My emotions are so intense, it's like the feeling of being in love!
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLE PORTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Laurène Alban
What a day this has been
What a rare mood I'm in
Why, it's almost like being in love
There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why, it's almost like being in love
All the music of life seems to be
Like a bell that is ringing for me
And from the way that I feel
When that bell starts to peal
I would swear I was falling
I could swear I was falling
It's almost like being in love
LL 222
She was born to sing Jazz like her daddy. RIP Natalie and Nat King Cole, legends of Jazz music!
Dennis Geurin
One the greatest singing talents of all time,no yelling ,no screeching,just smooth beautiful tone and great phrasing.
Scootermom
Love this version of this song! Natalie Cole has the sweetest voice!
Ed
Wow...two extreme talents in one family...RIP Natalie and Nat! In heaven together.
Vincenzo Don Cosimo
Great Voice, Great Band and Great Arrangement
Chet Lindsay
I love her rendition of this classic!
ENOerofebowT B
I’m in love! Go Natalie! What a beautiful voice… what a sensationally beautiful woman! Rest In Peace in God’s peace, beautiful.
Terry Sanders
Her dad taught her well....Naturally. May this wonderful lady continue to RIP.❤
Nelson Bevilac
Que mulher maravilhosa que voz , tenho certeza que seu pai lá de cima deve estar cheio de orgulho.
lance1908
Beautiful Especially the ending. That phrasing. Simply Natalie