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.
Tell Me All About It
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love, when we touch I shiver
Just body language can you blame it
My love's like a raging river
And I think you're the one to tame it
You, you're the quiet, shy type
You always whisper never shout it
Ooh, Baby, you are my type
Why don't you tell me all about it
I got ways to make you
Make you tell me all about it
That's what I'm gonna do
Till you tell me all about it
Making love till you do
Till you tell me all about it
(Musical Interlude)
Me, I'm a lousy loner
Me, I'm a soulful moaner
Stay chez moi so you can hear me
You, you're the quiet shy type
You always whisper never shout it
Ooh, Baby, you are my type
Why don't you tell me all about it
(Background singers repeat:
I got ways to make you, make you tell me all about it
That's what I'm gonna do, till you tell me all about it
Making love till you do, till you tell me all about it)
I got ways
I got some special ways
I got some very special ways to make you tell me
Baby, baby
(Scat)
Tell me, tell me
I got ways to make you
Make you love me
(Background singers change to:
That's exactly what I'm,
That's what I'm gonna do, till you tell me all about it
We won't stop making love,
Making love till you do, till you tell me all about it
I got some ways,
I got ways to make you, make you tell me all about it)
Ooh, tell me that you love me
Tell me all about it, Baby
(Scat)
Tell me, Baby, that you love me...
The lyrics of “Tell Me All About It” convey a seductive, flirtatious conversation happening between two people. The singer describes herself as being overwhelmed with desire, “my love’s like a raging river,” and appeals to her partner to tell her about themselves, maybe in an attempt to slow things down. The quiet, shy type that her partner is, never shout or speak loudly, which intrigues the singer, and she uses this moment to make them open up through seduction. The lyrics are playful and smooth, as if the singer is having a conversation with her listener without any interruption.
The chorus and background vocals repeating “I got ways to make you, make you tell me all about it” suggest that the singer has an ulterior motive for wanting to know more about the other person, and that motive is to make love to them. The lyrics also capture the characteristics of the singer's voice, which is sultry, soulful, and moanful. The musical interlude is part of the song’s sensual and slow style, which effortlessly complements the seductive lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Love, when we touch I shiver
Physical intimacy causes a strong emotional response in me
Just body language can you blame it
The way someone moves or acts can evoke a physical and emotional response
My love's like a raging river
My love is intense and powerful
And I think you're the one to tame it
I believe that you have the power to control or ease my intense feelings of love
You, you're the quiet, shy type
You are reserved and don't express your thoughts and feelings often
You always whisper never shout it
You speak softly and don't raise your voice often
Ooh, Baby, you are my type
I am attracted to you and want to know more about you
Why don't you tell me all about it
I want you to share your thoughts and feelings with me
I got ways to make you
I have methods to persuade you to open up to me
Make you tell me all about it
I can facilitate the sharing of your thoughts and feelings
That's what I'm gonna do
My intention is to help you open up to me
Till you tell me all about it
I will continue to try until you feel comfortable sharing with me
Me, I'm a lousy loner
I am not good at being alone
Just call my number come be near me
Please call me and spend time with me
Me, I'm a soulful moaner
I express my emotions through singing and making sounds
Stay chez moi so you can hear me
Stay with me so you can hear my singing and sounds
I got some special ways
I have unique methods to make you open up to me
I got some very special ways to make you tell me
The ways in which I can facilitate the sharing of your thoughts and feelings are very effective
Tell me, tell me
Please share your thoughts and feelings with me
I got ways to make you love me
I have ways to help you fall in love with me
That's exactly what I'm gonna do
I am committed to using my methods to help you fall in love with me
We won't stop making love
Our intimate relationship will continue until you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts and feelings with me
Tell me, Baby, that you love me...
Please confirm your love for me and continue to share your thoughts and feelings with me
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: MICHAEL P. FRANKS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@markJohnson-ot7ny
This lady came from Music Royalty and still had a great career in her own right ! R.I.P Ms. Natalie Cole
@rr7firefly
It makes me sad when I think about her premature departure. I just loved everything she did. It covered so much territory style wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsb-gOQ3sHs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_322d7_P0I
@salamwati9281
Pure class...jazz has never gotten seductively hotter. Rip😘Natalie
@khnemura9
This song will put you in a place that you'll never wanna leave.
@daveraynor5365
Well put!
@sharkbitegaming3967
the ghetto?
@alexaviercuadrado
@@sharkbitegaming3967 LMAO That is hilariously left field 🤣🤣🤣
@JoaoVictor-dw2ci
Exactly this
@sinemsomi
Exactly!! Like a beach in Mauritius. Damn...
@daveraynor5365
What a gifted, perfect, angelic, beautiful singer. And to think she actually sang on a tune I wrote. I was and still am honored by that...