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Nat King Cole: Singing career
His first vocal hit was with "Straighten Up and Fly Right", based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Although hardly a rocker, the song's success proved that an audience for folk-based material existed. It is considered a predecessor to the first rock and roll records. Indeed,
Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
In a move that was virtually unique at the time, Cole reached out to mainstream audiences with the number one hit "Mona Lisa" in 1950. This began a new phase in his career, which had been primarily as a pop balladeer, though he never totally ignored his roots in jazz. As late as 1956, he recorded an all-jazz album,
After Midnight. In 1991, Capitol Records opened eyes with their boxed set of Cole's trio recordings.
Cole was the first African American to have his own radio program. He repeated that success in the late-1950s with the first truly national television show starring an African-American. In both cases, the programs were ultimately cancelled because sponsors shied away from a black artist. Cole fought racism all his life, refusing to perform in segregated venues. In 1956, he was attacked on stage in Birmingham, Alabama by members of the White Citizens' Council who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. Despite injuries, Cole completed the show, then vowed never to perform in the South again, which he did not.
In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The property owners association told Cole they didn't want any undesirables moving in. Cole retorted "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."
He and his second wife, Maria Ellington, were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children, two adopted. His daughter,
Natalie Cole, and his younger brothers, Freddie Cole and Ike Cole, are also singers.
Cole performed in many film shorts, and played W. C. Handy in the film Saint Louis Blues
. He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story and Cat Ballou.
Nat King Cole, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer in 1965 and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
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