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.
Angel on My Shoulder
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't believe the hell I've been through
Couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel
I didn't know what to do
I've been through the rain, I've been through the fire
There was something that I never knew
I had an angel on my shoulder
Must be an angel on my shoulder
Who was right there all the time
This world can be so cold and so heartless
It's hard to find your way alone
I used to run so fast, no one could catch me
I couldn't find the way back home
But I've laughed, I've cried, I've almost died
But my broken heart just never knew
I had an angel on my shoulder
With a plan for me divine
Got to be an angel on my shoulder
Who was right there all the time
Everybody needs someone to cling to
With an unchanging love
I finally found a hand to hold on to
A shelter to run to, now I see
He's watching over me
I had an angel on my shoulder
With a plan for me divine
Got to be an angel on my shoulder
Who was right there, right there, right there all the time
Got to be an angel, an angel, an angel
Right there all the time
The lyrics of Natalie Cole's Angel on My Shoulder convey a message of hope and the idea that we are not alone in our struggles. The opening lines paint a picture of the singer's difficult journey and the challenges they had to overcome. Despite the hardships, there was a force of guidance and protection that the singer felt had been watching over them, an angel on their shoulder. This angelic presence had a plan for the singer, a divine purpose that the singer didn't know about. It is the realization of the presence of the angel that provided the singer with the strength to go on.
The chorus of the song serves as a powerful refrain to the angelic theme: "I had an angel on my shoulder with a plan for me divine. Got to be an angel on my shoulder, who was right there all the time." The song speaks to the idea that life can be incredibly difficult, and we can be lost and alone in our struggles. But, there is hope to be found in the belief that there is something greater than ourselves, watching over us, helping us to navigate the journey of life.
Overall, Natalie Cole's Angel on My Shoulder serves as a reminder of the strength and resilience of the human spirit, and the importance of hope and faith in getting through difficult times.
Line by Line Meaning
I never thought I'd ever make it
I didn't imagine that I would ever overcome the challenges I faced
I can't believe the hell I've been through
The struggles I went through were extremely difficult to believe and accept
Couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel
I couldn't find a way out of the tough situation I was in
I didn't know what to do
I was clueless and unable to decide what my next steps should be
I've been through the rain, I've been through the fire
I faced tough times and hardships that tested my resilience
There was something that I never knew
I lacked the understanding of the reason behind all the difficulties I faced
I had an angel on my shoulder
I had someone looking out for me and guiding me
With a plan for me divine
The guidance I received was from a higher power which had everything under control
Must be an angel on my shoulder
It had to be someone sent from above to help me through my struggles
Who was right there all the time
The person or entity that was helping me was always present, even when I couldn't see it
This world can be so cold and so heartless
The world can be unforgiving and unsympathetic, making it difficult to navigate alone
It's hard to find your way alone
Going through hardships by oneself can make it tough to know what to do and where to go
I used to run so fast, no one could catch me
I used to avoid facing my problems by escaping and running away from them
I couldn't find the way back home
I was lost and unable to find my way back to a comfortable and safe space
But I've laughed, I've cried, I've almost died
I've experienced a range of emotions and near-death situations, but still kept going
But my broken heart just never knew
Despite all the hardships I faced, I didn't realize that someone was helping me through it all
Everybody needs someone to cling to
Everyone needs someone to rely on and confide in during tough times
With an unchanging love
That person needs to have unwavering and steady love and support
I finally found a hand to hold on to
I found someone I could depend on and who could help me through my tough times
A shelter to run to, now I see
I found a safe space and support system that I could go to when things got tough
He's watching over me
The person who helped me through my struggles is still there, looking out for me and guiding me
Got to be an angel on my shoulder
Someone was definitely helping me through my difficulties
Who was right there, right there, right there all the time
That person was always there, through thick and thin, and I'm grateful for their guidance and support
Got to be an angel, an angel, an angel
That person was definitely an angel sent to help me through my tough times
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: NATALIE COLE, RICHARD MARX
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind