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.
This Will Be
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
An everlasting love
This will be
The one I've waited for
This will be
The first time anyone has loved me, oh
I'm so glad
And I'm so glad that
He rectified my mind
This will be
An everlasting love for me, whoa, oh
Loving you
Is some kind of wonderful
Because you've shown me
Just how much you care
You've given me the thrill of a lifetime
And made me believe you've got more thrills to spare, oh
This will be
An everlasting love, oh, yes, it will now
You've brought a lot of sunshine into my life
You've filled me with happiness I never knew
You gave me more joy than I ever dreamed of
And no one, no one can take the place of you, ooh
This will be, you and me, yes, siree, eternally
Huggin' and squeezin' and kissin' and pleasin'
Together forever through rain or whatever
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you and me
So long as I'm livin' true love I'll be givin', to you I'll be servin'
'Cause you're so deservin'
Hey, you're so deservin'
You're so deservin', yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh
The love, the love, the love, the love, the love, the love
Love, love, love, love
The love, the love, the love, the love, the love, the love, love, love
From now on, from now on
From now on, from now on
From now on, from now on
From now on, from now on, yeah
From now on, from now on
From now on, from now on
The song This Will Be by Natalie Cole talks about a love that will last forever, a love that the singer has been waiting for. She expresses her happiness in finding this love and being loved for the first time. The lyrics describes how the person she loves has rectified her mind and brought sunshine and happiness into her life. Her lover has given her joy and thrills that she never thought were possible.
The song also talks about how the love between the couple will last eternally through whatever life brings - rain or sunshine, they will be hugging, squeezing, kissing, and pleasing each other. She promises to serve her lover because he is deserving of her love. The song is a celebration of true love and the happiness it brings. It has an upbeat tempo and catchy melody that matches the joyful mood and lyrics of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
This will be
The love between us is going to be a significant and notable experience.
An everlasting love
Our love will last for a long time and will never fade away.
The one I've waited for
You are the one I've been waiting for and longing to have a relationship with.
The first time anyone has loved me, oh
This is the first time I've felt genuine love and affection from anyone.
I'm so glad
I'm happy and grateful because
He found in time
You found me at the right time, and I'm glad I didn't miss the chance to be with you.
And I'm so glad that
I'm overjoyed that
He rectified my mind
You helped me to rectify my thinking and be open to experiencing love again, and I'm grateful to you for that.
Loving you
Being in love with you
Is some kind of wonderful
It's an incredible and beautiful feeling to be in love with you.
Because you've shown me
You have demonstrated
Just how much you care
The level of care and concern you have for me is exceptional.
You've given me the thrill of a lifetime
You have provided me with experiences that are exciting and memorable.
And made me believe you've got more thrills to spare, oh
I believe that you have even more fantastic and amazing experiences in store for us in the future.
You've brought a lot of sunshine into my life
You have made my life a lot brighter and more joyful.
You've filled me with happiness I never knew
You have given me happiness that I didn't know was possible.
You gave me more joy than I ever dreamed of
The amount of joy and happiness I feel with you is more than I could have ever imagined.
And no one, no one can take the place of you, ooh
No one else can replace you in my heart, and I'll cherish and value you throughout my life.
Huggin' and squeezin' and kissin' and pleasin'
Expressing our love and affection through physical touch and intimacy
Together forever through rain or whatever
We will stick together and weather any storm, no matter what happens in our lives.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you and me
We'll be together and united always.
So long as I'm livin' true love I'll be givin', to you I'll be servin'
As long as I'm alive, I'll continue to give you my genuine love and affection and serve you in any way I can.
'Cause you're so deservin'
Your kindness, love, and affection deserve to be reciprocated by me.
Hey, you're so deservin'
You deserve all the love, support, and care I can give.
The love, the love, the love, the love, the love, the love
The passion, affection, and commitment we have to each other
Love, love, love, love
The multiple expressions and forms of love
From now on, from now on
Starting from this moment and into the future
You and me, yes, siree, eternally
We'll be together forever and ever.
From now on, from now on
Starting from this moment and into the future
Huggin' and squeezin' and kissin' and pleasin'
Expressing our love and affection through physical touch and intimacy
Together forever through rain or whatever
We will stick together and weather any storm, no matter what happens in our lives.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you and me
We'll be together and united always.
From now on, from now on
Starting from this moment and into the future
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Chuck Jackson, Marvin Yancy
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind