But his Apperformance in Alabama was a crucial moment in race relations. And that's good business too, you see."Īccording to Epstein, Cole saw himself as an entertainer, not an activist. "I try to please as many people as I possibly can and if I find the people like certain things, I try to give them what they like. "You see, it's not a case of my personal likes," Cole said in the interview. His first recordings show the influence of his idol, Earl Hines. Cole's mother taught the him to play the piano when he was four, and at 15, he dropped out of high school to lead his own bands. He sings the notes true and he hits them right in the center."īorn Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Ala., on March 17, 1919, the child prodigy was later raised in Chicago. He's a baritone with absolutely perfect pitch. "Remember, he was never trained as a singer. "Nat King Cole's voice is really one of the great gifts of nature," Daniel Mark Epstein, author of the 1999 biography Nat King Cole, says. As an African American ballad singer and jazz musician, he topped the charts year after year, sold more than 50 million records, pushed jazz piano in a new direction and paved the way for later generations of performers. Nat 'King' Cole having a smoke while disembarking from a plane in 1963.īorn 100 years ago today, Nat King Cole was one of the most popular and influential entertainers of the 20th century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |