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.
Touch Me
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I get a thrill, I get a chill when you touch me
A thrill I can't ignore, keeps me coming back for more
Every time you touch me
Oh yes it is (oh yes it is)
And right now, right now if you touch me, baby
It'll do tricks for you, so come on, baby
(touch me one more time) oh, ooh
(way you did, when you did it last night) oh, baby
Sweet daddy, sweet sugar daddy
(touch me one more time)
Oh, yeah (way you did, when you did it last night)
Oh, oh, yeah (touch me one more time) well
(way you did, when you did it last night)
That's all I want you to do for me, uhm
'cause I know everything's gonna be alright
'cause it always is when you
(touch me, touch me, touch me)
Ooh, uhm, I can feel the sun in my eyes
And I don't ever come alive until you
(touch me, touch me, touch me)
No, no, no, hoo, oh--
You know my heart is forever yours, baby
Oh, yes it is (ooh, yes it is)
It means now, and it will be tomorrow and forevermore, oh
(touch me one more time) oh
(the way you did, when you did it last night)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh (touch me one more time)
I dare, I dare you to touch me, baby
(way you did, when you did it last night)
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
(touch me one more time)
Yeah, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(way you did, when you did it last night)
Ah, ooh, oh -- you know my heart is forever yours, baby,
And it always is (oh) and it means now
It'll be tomorrow and forevermore
(touch me one more time) oh (way you did) oh, oh
(when you did it last night)
Touch me, touch me, baby, won't you
(touch me one more time) yeah
(way you did) yeah (when you did it last night)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh (touch me one more time)
In the morning (way you did, way you did it last
Night) oh, in the evening time too, yeah
(touch me one more time) oh, ha, oh, ha (way you did)
Ha, ha, oh, oh (way you did it last night)
Keep touching me, baby, baby, yeah
(touch me one more time) oh, oh, oh, oh (way you did)
Sing it sweet daddy (when you did it last night)
Oh, sweet, sweet, daddy, my, my
Hoo, hoo, ah--
Hoo, hoo--, hoo, ah
(get your love in mind) ooh, ooh, ooh
(get your love in mind, sweet baby)
Can't you feel the need in me, baby
(get your love in mind) oh (get your love in mind, sweet baby)
Can't you feel the need (sweet baby)
Can't you feel the need in me, oh, oh, oh
(get your love in mind) feel the need
(get your love in mind, sweet baby)
Oh, baby, baby, yeah (get your love in mind)
Feel the need (get your love in mind, sweet baby)
Oh, in me
The lyrics to Natalie Cole's song "Touch Me" express her excitement and desire for physical touch from her lover. She sings about getting chills and thrills whenever he touches her, and how her body is weak for him. She also emphasizes how forever her heart is his, and how she wants him to touch her again in the same way he did last night.
The lyrics of this song reflect Cole's immense passion for her partner. She sings about the power of touch, and how it brings her body and soul alive. The chorus, "touch me, touch me, touch me," repeats several times, emphasizing this theme of touch and physical connection. The tone of the song is seductive and sultry, with Cole's smooth and silky voice perfectly complementing the lyrics.
Overall, the lyrics of "Touch Me" are a vivid expression of the power and intensity of physical touch in a romantic relationship. They capture the excitement, passion, and longing that people often feel for their partners.
Line by Line Meaning
I get a thrill, I get a chill when you touch me
Being touched by you brings about an exhilarating feeling that gives me goosebumps
A thrill I can't ignore, keeps me coming back for more
I cannot resist the thrill that comes with being touched by you; that's why I keep coming back for more
Every time you touch me
The feeling of being touched by you affects me every time it happens
You know my body is weak for you
You are aware that your touch weakens me
Oh yes it is (oh yes it is)
Indeed, that is the case
And right now, right now if you touch me, baby
If you touch me at this moment, your touch will ignite a feeling in me
It'll do tricks for you, so come on, baby
My body will react in a way that pleases you; therefore, please touch me
(touch me one more time) oh, ooh
Please touch me one more time; it will generate a pleasurable feeling in me
(way you did, when you did it last night) oh, baby
Touch me like you did last night; it was amazing
Sweet daddy, sweet sugar daddy
You are sweet and lovely, my sugar daddy
(touch me one more time)
One more touch, please
Oh, yeah (way you did, when you did it last night)
Touch me like you did last night; oh, yes
Oh, oh, yeah (touch me one more time) well
Touch me again; I enjoy it
(way you did, when you did it last night)
Touch me like you did last night; I loved it
That's all I want you to do for me, uhm
That is my only request; please touch me
'cause I know everything's gonna be alright
I'm certain that everything will be okay
'cause it always is when you
Things always go well when you
(touch me, touch me, touch me)
Touch me repeatedly
Ooh, uhm, I can feel the sun in my eyes
The touch from you makes me feel lively and full of sunshine
And I don't ever come alive until you
I only feel real or alive when you touch me
(touch me, touch me, touch me)
Please, touch me again and again
No, no, no, hoo, oh--
Expressing the feeling that the touch from you is wonderful
You know my heart is forever yours, baby
You understand that you have my heart, always
Oh, yes it is (ooh, yes it is)
That is indeed the case, without a doubt
It means now, and it will be tomorrow and forevermore, oh
It is a statement of assurance that you have my heart now, tomorrow, and in the future
(touch me one more time) oh
Touch me once more; I desire it
(the way you did, when you did it last night)
Touch me like the way you did last night; It felt fantastic
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Expressing excitement and eagerness to be touched
I dare, I dare you to touch me, baby
The singer is giving the other person the audacity to touch them
(way you did, when you did it last night)
Touch me like you did last night; it was fantastic
Keep touching me, baby, baby, yeah
Please continue to touch me; it feels great
Sing it sweet daddy (when you did it last night)
Please accompany your touch with sweet and romantic words; it will make it more pleasurable
Hoo, hoo--, hoo, ah
A vocal expression of pleasure and enjoyment
(get your love in mind) ooh, ooh, ooh
Thinking about love and longing for it
(get your love in mind, sweet baby)
The singer is thinking about the sweet baby's love
Can't you feel the need in me, baby
Can't you sense that I need you so much
(get your love in mind) oh (get your love in mind, sweet baby)
The song emphasizes the desire to be loved
Can't you feel the need (sweet baby)
The need for love is essential to the singer
Can't you feel the need in me, oh, oh, oh
The singer emphasizes once more about the desire for physical touch and love
(get your love in mind) feel the need
The song continues to emphasize the need for affection
Oh, baby, baby, yeah (get your love in mind)
The song continues to express the need for tenderness and love
Feel the need (get your love in mind, sweet baby)
As the song comes to an end, it emphasizes the importance of love.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: CHARLOTTE JACKSON, JAKE RIDLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind