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.
Needing You
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I just don't know what I'm gonna do
To tell the truth, it just ain't no use
My mind ain't strong enough
To forget about you, oh baby, hey
Here I am trying to be proud
Trying to fool myself with this unreal smile
But I know myself that can't be true
Oh, how can I forget a love I've known for so long?
The heart may not remember, but the mind goes on and on
And the more I think about it the worse off I get
Something keeps telling me
You ain't seen nothing yet
I'm needing you, wanting you
I just don't know what I'm gonna do
Now that you're gone, how can I go on
The same love that made me smile
Right now it makes me blue
Oh, how can I get you back, I need you here so bad
The neighbors say, since you've been away
I seem to be so sad, you know they're right
I can't stand to be out of your site
You need to be here close to me to lift these lonely nights
I'm needing you, wanting you
Oh, I just don't know what I'm gonna do, ooh, no
To tell the truth, it just ain't no use
My mind ain't strong enough to forget about you
Baby, baby, I'm sure needing you
Yes, I'm wanting you, you know I just can't stand it
It just ain't no use, ain't no use
In Natalie Cole's song Needing You, the singer is expressing her deep longing for her lost love, confessing that she can't forget about them no matter how hard she tries. She starts by repeating the lines "Needing you, wanting you, I just don't know what I'm gonna do," conveying her desperation and helplessness. She admits that she's tried to fool herself into thinking that she's okay without her love, but she knows deep down that it's not true. She can't forget the love she's known for so long, and her mind keeps going back to the past. Even though her heart may not remember, her mind goes on and on, making it difficult for her to move on.
The more she thinks about her lost love, the worse she feels. She's consumed by thoughts of them and is constantly plagued by the feeling that she still needs them in her life. She can't seem to lift herself out of the sadness that has taken over her since they left. She acknowledges that even her neighbors have noticed the change in her mood since they've been gone. The song ends with the singer repeating the lines "Needing you, wanting you, oh, I just don't know what I'm gonna do," once again highlighting her deep longing for her lost love.
Line by Line Meaning
Needing you, wanting you
I have a strong desire and longing for your presence and love
I just don't know what I'm gonna do
I am unsure of how to cope with your absence
To tell the truth, it just ain't no use
Being honest, my efforts to forget about you have been futile
My mind ain't strong enough
I am unable to mentally handle not having you in my life
To forget about you, oh baby, hey
I wish I could move on from our love, but am unable to
Here I am trying to be proud
I am pretending to be strong and independent without you
Trying to fool myself with this unreal smile
I am pretending to be happy without you, even though I am not
Telling everyone that I no longer cling to you
I am making it known that I am no longer dependent on you
But I know myself that can't be true
Deep inside, I acknowledge that I still need and want you
Oh, how can I forget a love I've known for so long?
It's difficult for me to erase the memories of our long-lasting love
The heart may not remember, but the mind goes on and on
While my emotions may fade, my thoughts of you continue to persist
And the more I think about it the worse off I get
The more I dwell on the past, the more my current state worsens
Something keeps telling me
An intuitive feeling or voice is persisting within me
You ain't seen nothing yet
There is more to come, you haven't experienced the full extent of my feelings
Now that you're gone, how can I go on
I struggle to move forward in life without you by my side
The same love that made me smile
The same love that brought me joy in the past now causes me pain
Right now it makes me blue
Currently, my emotions are consumed with sadness
Oh, how can I get you back, I need you here so bad
I yearn for your return and crave your love and companionship
The neighbors say, since you've been away
Those around me have noticed the effects of your absence
I seem to be so sad, you know they're right
It's true, my demeanor has been characterized by sadness lately
I can't stand to be out of your site
Being away from you is unbearable and difficult for me
You need to be here close to me to lift these lonely nights
I need you by my side to comfort and fill the void in my lonely nights
Baby, baby, I'm sure needing you
My love and desire for you is strong, I cannot deny it
Yes, I'm wanting you, you know I just can't stand it
I desire and long for you, it's unbearable not having you here
It just ain't no use, ain't no use
Despite my efforts, I cannot forget about you or move on from our love
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind