Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole (born February 6, 1950), better known as Natalie Cole is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", "Inseparable" and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole reemerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album, Everlasting, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards.

Natalie Cole was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of crooner Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Cole. Raised in the affluent Hancock Park district of Los Angeles; regarding her childhood, Cole has referred to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great singers of jazz, soul, and blues. At the age of six Natalie sang on her father's Christmas album and later began performing at age 11.
Cole grew up with older adopted sister Carole "Cookie" (1944–2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's daughter); adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959–95), and younger twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961).

Her paternal uncle Freddy Cole is a singer and pianist with numerous albums and awards. Cole attended Northfield Mount Hermon School at age 15, afer her father died of lung cancer in February 1965. Soon afterwards she began having a difficult relationship with her mother. She enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She briefly transferred to University of Southern California where she pledged the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She later transferred back to the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Child Psychology and minored in German graduating in 1972.

Even before she graduated from college, Cole had already began singing on weekends at a small club called "The Pub". She was welcomed on the club circuit in hope of singing her father's music but tried to stay as far from his music as managers would allow. In fact, it was her own style of grit and soul that attracted R&B producers Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy at a nightclub called Mr. Kelley's. This partnership soon took the industry by storm with the release of her first album Inseparable with soul number one hits "This Will Be", and title track "Inseparable". In 1975, Natalie was awarded a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "This Will Be"

and Best New Artist Grammy for the album Inseparable. Her high-power-style was often compared to Aretha Franklin and some critics even referred to her as the new queen of soul. In 1976, Natalie was again awarded Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Sophisticated Lady" and a 1977 Best Female Vocalist American Music Award for gold certified "I've Got Love on My Mind". Natalie gathered two platinum albums (Unpredictable, Thankful) and another gold single "Our Love" in 1977. By 1978, she would star in her first television special on CBS to rave reviews and garnered another gold album in the classic Natalie Live set which also featured her hard hitting band Linda Williams (Musical Director/Piano/Background vocals)Cissy Peoples and Anita Anderson (background vocalist)Ted Sparks (Drums)Bobby Eaton (Bass Guitar)Michael Wycoff (Keyboards and Vocals)Charles Bynum (Guitar)Louie Palomo (Percussion). Plenty of hits including "I Cant Say No", "Party Lights", "I'm Catching Hell", "Be Thankful", "Annie Mae", "Sorry", "Stand By" among many others followed as well as more gold albums with 1979's I Love You So and 1980's We're The Best Of Friends with Peabo Bryson.

Cole's career paused in the early 1980s as she entered rehab multiple times for heroin and cocaine addiction, while her mother assumed control of her finances and custody of her son. By 1985, Cole was back in good health, and began a comeback with album Dangerous, released on the Modern label and included hits "A Little Bit Of Heaven" and the Pointer Sisters-inspired title track which became a number one dance song. In 1987, she released Everlasting (on EMI Manhattan) which sold over a 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". The album also included hit singles "Jump Start," and a remake of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" (#5 Pop, #16 AC, and #1 Dance, #5 UK). Singles "Everlasting" and a remake of her father's signature song, "When I Fall In Love" also had modest success on charts. In 1989, her next album, Good To Be Back, gave her more chart success with "Miss You Like Crazy" (#1 both R&B and AC, and #7 Pop, plus #2 UK), "I Do" with Freddie Jackson, and a cover of Dolly Parton's "Starting Over Again". In 1990, "Wild Women Do" was featured behind the credits and on the soundtrack album of the Julia Roberts film Pretty Woman.

Cole's best selling album, 1991's Unforgettable... with Love, featuring her vocal arrangements of her father's greatest hits with piano accompaniment by her uncle Ike Cole. She sang 22 songs from Nat King Cole's collection including "The Very Thought of You", "Mona Lisa", "Route 66" and with a little help from technology, performed the title song "Unforgettable" as a duet with her father, using her father's original recording. As a single, it reached #14 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart and #10 on the R&B chart, and went gold and the video single six times platinum. The album was also a great success; selling over 7 million copies in the United States alone, and won Cole several Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, as well as Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the track "Unforgettable". The "Record of the Year" award was somewhat controversial, as some wondered aloud how a 40+ year old song could be nominated—let alone win—Record of the Year.[who?] Cole's strained relationship with her mother intensified, as the elder Cole vocally criticized her daughter for exhuming the memory of Nat "King" Cole solely for commercial gain.



Natalie Cole (nacida en Los Ángeles el 6 de febrero de 1950 - ), cantante de jazz, soul y R&B. Es hija del cantante de jazz Nat King Cole. Su carrera se puede dividir en dos etapas: una primera, en la que hizo R&B y urban, y una más cercana basada en el jazz.