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.
It's Sand Man
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But don't you look too close,
'Cause you just might see the person
That you hate the most, Lord
What's happening to this human race
I can't even see one friendly face
Brothers fight brothers and sisters wink their eyes
While silver tongues bear fruits of poison lies
Take a look at your children
Born innocent, every boy and every girl
Denying themselves a real chance
To build a better world
Oh, dear lord what's happening
To your precious dream
I think its washing away
On a bloody, bloody stream
Yes, take a look at your children
Before it's too late and tell them nobody
Nobody wins when the prize is hate
Oh, no, no, no it's not too late
We gotta tell all of our children
That love, love, love is the way, yeah, yeah
The lyrics of "It's Sand Man" by Natalie Cole warn people about the destructive nature of hate and conflict within the human race, and how it can have devastating effects on society. The song asks the listener to reflect on themselves and the world around them and to take responsibility for creating a better future for themselves and their children. The opening lines urge people to look in the mirror and examine themselves, cautioning them not to be too critical lest they see the person they hate the most.
The following lines describe the current state of humanity, where conflict and deception are rampant. They reflect how we are betraying the dream of peace and brotherhood, which might result in a bloody stream. The songpointedly remarks on how the innocent children are, unfortunately, the future of this world, and how they perceive and internalize our present world.
The song's last lines encourage all of us to recognize the power of love and convey the message of peace to our children. It says that it's not too late to fix the wrong if we start showing love to each other. The song conveys a crucial message, which is still vital in contemporary society, promoting the importance of peace, love, and brotherhood.
Line by Line Meaning
Take a look in the mirror, look at yourself
Examine yourself closely and introspectively using a mirror.
But don't you look too close,
Do not scrutinize yourself excessively or obsessively.
'Cause you just might see the person
You might come across the part of your being that you do not like.
That you hate the most, Lord
You might discover the part of yourself that you intensely despise.
What's happening to this human race
What is the present state of the entire human species?
I can't even see one friendly face
There are no warmth, kindness or friendliness on anyone's face.
Brothers fight brothers and sisters wink their eyes
Siblings engage in conflicts and show sly and cunning behavior.
While silver tongues bear fruits of poison lies
Slick, artful people speak falsehoods that lead to harmful outcomes.
Take a look at your children
Observe your offsprings.
Born innocent, every boy and every girl
Newborns are blameless and uncorrupted, regardless of their gender.
Denying themselves a real chance
But kids do not give themselves the opportunity to live in a better world.
To build a better world
To shape and construct an improved and superior world.
Oh, dear lord what's happening
A fervent entreaty to know what significant events are happening.
To your precious dream
Inquiring about the fate of one's treasured vision or aspiration.
I think its washing away
The thing that matters to the person seems to be fading away.
On a bloody, bloody stream
On a course of severe bloodshed and violence.
Yes, take a look at your children
Indeed, pay attention to your children.
Before it's too late and tell them nobody
Educate them before it is too late that none
Nobody wins when the prize is hate
Everyone loses when hate is the reward.
Oh, no, no, no it's not too late
It is not too late to change.
We gotta tell all of our children
It is our responsibility to engage in a dialog with our young ones.
That love, love, love is the way, yeah, yeah
To convey the idea that love is the optimal path forward.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVE LAMBERT, EDDIE LEWIS, JON HENDRICKS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gabriel Morris
This is amazing!