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.
I've Got Love On My Mind
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've got love on my mind
I've got love on my mind
And there's nothing particular wrong
It's a feeling I feel inside
When I woke up early this morning
It was staring me straight in my eyeI got there I start to unwind
In your arms I like to be
Caressing you gently and passionately
From sunrise to sunset and all through the day
I've been waiting for your return
And you know this is where I'll be
I can say to the world
I learned only you can satisfy me
I've got love on my mind
I've got love on my mind
I've got love on my mind
When you touch me I can't resist
And you've touched me a thousand times
When I think of your tender kiss
Then and there I start to unwind
The lyrics of Natalie Cole's song "I've Got Love On My Mind" describe a pure, passionate love that the singer feels towards her beloved. Despite not having any particular reason to feel this way, she wakes up in the morning with love staring her straight in the eye. The singer cannot resist her lover's touch and thinks of his tender kiss, which causes her to unwind completely. She yearns to be in his arms and be caressed gently and passionately all day long from sunrise to sunset. She knows that only her lover can satisfy her and she waits patiently for his return.
The lyrics convey a sense of deep, all-consuming love that speaks to the romantic nature of the song. The singer's emotions are raw and honest and convey a sense of vulnerability that adds to the power of the lyrics. The imagery used in the lyrics is vivid and evocative, particularly in the way that the singer describes being caressed by her lover and how she feels when he touches her. The song reflects the universal need for love, and the way that it can make everything seem so much brighter and better.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got love on my mind
My thoughts and emotions are filled with love and affection.
I've got love on my mind
My thoughts and emotions are filled with love and affection.
I've got love on my mind
My thoughts and emotions are filled with love and affection.
And there's nothing particular wrong
There is nothing amiss in my life currently, but my heart yearns for love and connection.
It's a feeling I feel inside
The longing for love is a strong and genuine emotion within me.
When I woke up early this morning
Even upon waking up, the desire for love was already present in my thoughts.
It was staring me straight in my eye
The need for love was evident and impossible to ignore.
I got there I start to unwind
In your comforting presence, I can relax and find peace.
In your arms I like to be
Being held tightly by you brings me joy and contentment.
Caressing you gently and passionately
Touching you softly and intensively creates a deep sense of intimacy.
From sunrise to sunset and all through the day
My thoughts of you remain constant and unwavering throughout the entire day.
I've been waiting for your return
I eagerly anticipate the moment when we can be together again.
And you know this is where I'll be
I will always be here, waiting for you and loving you.
I can say to the world
I can confidently proclaim to everyone.
I learned only you can satisfy me
You are the only one who can fulfill my emotional and physical desires.
When you touch me I can't resist
Your touch has an irresistible effect on me.
And you've touched me a thousand times
Your touch has been frequent and consistent, further intensifying my desire for you.
When I think of your tender kiss
Thoughts of your gentle kiss enter my mind and bring me pleasure.
Then and there I start to unwind
In that moment, I find relaxation and peace in my thoughts of you.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CHUCK JACKSON, MARVIN YANCY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind