![]() Roberts suggests that she seemed satisfied to be a “club singer with an almost perfect command of the current hip-pop middle ground …. Once established -and married to Yancy -Cole seemed reluctant to experiment stylistically. Roberts called the Cole-Jackson-Yancy relationship “a partnership that obviously can ’t be faulted commercially but it also works well musically, never dominating or giving the impression that she is being jammed art-first into some unsuitable sack marked ‘What ’s happening. With their support, her 1975 debut album, Inseparable, with its chart-topping single “This Will Be, ” went platinum and won her two Grammy awards. ”Ĭole ’s success on her own terms was greatly aided by producer/songwriters Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, who provided her with material and helped to engineer her albums for Capitol Records. ” According to John Storm Roberts in High Fidelity, the core of Cole ’s sound, “both in quantity and quality, is a joyous pop-soul singing: The sound of early Motown soul, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, and above all, the early Aretha Franklin. In Ebony, Louie Robinson writes that the young singer “exploded on the national scene … rising to the top like cream with a dazzling flourish of versatility: ballads, torch-rock, rhythm-and-blues. Professional singer, 1972 - recording artist, 1975 -.Īwards: City Council of City of Los Angeles, Calif., declared Septem“Natalie Cole Day ” Grammy Award for best new artist, 1976, and best rhythm and blues female vocalist, 19 Image Award from National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 19 American Music Award, 1978 four gold and two platinum albums.īeatles. Agent -International Creative Management, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019. Religion: Baptist.Īdresses: Office –c/o 11780 Moorpark St. Education: University of Massachusetts, B.A., 1972. Yancy (a composer and producer), J(divorced, 1979) children: Robert Adam. daughter of Nat “King ” (a pianist and singer) and Maria (a singer maiden name, Hawkins) Cole married Marvin J. ”Ĭole may have gotten a start on her father ’s coattails, but once she took the stage she developed her own style and repertoire, based on influences as various as Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, and the For the Record …įull name, Natalie Maria Cole born February 6, 1950, in Los Angeles, Calif. And I guess if I had been Ann Smith, I ’d probably still be struggling and maybe just now being able to get ahead. “It was only natural that I should resent it, ” she told High Fidelity magazine in 1977, “because I wanted to be recognized for my own talent, but at the same time it made me realize just how famous my father was. Cole found this “humiliating ” at times but accepted it as an opportunity to bypass the years of struggle some artists must endure. Good club bookings followed -but they were invariably based on the strength of her father ’s name. Instead she attended college at the University of Massachusetts, eventually earning a Bachelor ’s degree in child psychology.Ĭole began singing professionally quite by chance, when she went looking for summer work as a waitress and wound up fronting a local band. Still, young Natalie was not encouraged to pursue music as a career. ” Raised in wealth and luxury, Cole learned to love music under the influence of both of her parents her mother had been a principal singer with the Duke Ellington orchestra before her marriage. “On stage, he was a star, ” Cole told Ebony, “but at home he was an ordinary father -a companion. Throughout the 1950s her father was one of the highest paid performers in the world, with his own prime-time television show and a string of bestselling albums. Natalie Maria Cole was born in 1950, the second of Nat and Maria Cole ’s five children. Reflecting on her life ’s low points, Cole told Newsweek: “I managed to survive the worst things any entertainer could possible go through. She has yet to recover her earlier level of success, although she continues to perform and to handle her own affairs. By 1982, however, ill health, drug abuse, and a failed marriage had sidetracked her career. ”Ĭole became a superstar at twenty-five and was showered with acclaim and awards over the next three years. And her phrasing, like that of her late father, is expertly sympathetic. According to Ebony contributor Herschel Johnson, Cole ’s albums have shown her voice “to have considerable style and facility, handling everything from the sizzling rhythmic strains …to the tender ballad lines …. The spirited daughter of the late Nat “King ” Cole was one of the top black performers in the mid- to late-1970s awarded a Grammy in 1975 as best new artist of the year, she seemed destined to duplicate her famous father ’s career -without echoing his sound. ![]() Rhythm and blues singer Natalie Cole rose to stardom almost overnight and then fell into obscurity just as precipitously. ![]()
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