Natalie Cole - A Profile

Natalie Maria Cole is, of course, the daughter of the great Nat King Cole and his jazz singer wife Maria Cole (nee Hawkins) who sang with Count Basie and Duke Ellington under the name Marie Ellington (nothing to to with Duke, she married airman Spurgeon Ellington in 1943 who died in the war). Natalie was born in Los Angeles on 6 Feb 1950 (and died on 31 Dec 2015 aged 65) so would have been 73 today.

She burst onto the music scene with her first single "This Will Be" in 1975 which was an R&B #1 hit and a Top 10 Hot 100 hit peaking at #6. It was also a pop hit in the UK climbing to #32. It won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Not a bad debut?

Although she sang on some of her father's recordings as a child, she didn't start singing professionally until she completed her education, majoring in Child Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1972. She sang in clubs with a band called Black Magic doing covers. She met song-writing / producer duo Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy (who she would later marry) and recorded some demos at Curtis Mayfield's studio which led to her being signed by Capitol. Some of the demo songs featured on her debut album "Inseparable" and were allegedly offered to Aretha Franklin to record (including "This Will Be") who turned them down as she was busy recording her "You" album.

Cole's first three singles, "This Will Be", the title track from the album, "Inseparable", followed by "Sophisticated Lady (She's a Different Lady)" from her next album "Natalie", were all R&B #1 hits.

Another Grammy was awarded for Best New Artist in 1976 making her the first African-American artist to win the award and the following year she won Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for "Sophisticated Lady (She's A Different Lady)".

The award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Female began in 1968 and up until 1976 Aretha Franklin had won it every year which led to her being dubbed the "new Aretha Franklin" (listen to "I Can't Say No" from her debut album if in any doubts). Cole won it for two consecutive years and Franklin went on to win it another three times.

The lead single "I've Got Love on My Mind" from her third album "Unpredictable" also hit the R&B top spot as did the album. In summary four of her first five singes were #1 R&B and two of her first three albums were #1 R&B with the second peaking at #3. Her first six albums all went Gold with two of them going Platinum but the next four between 1980-85 weren't as successful and she parted ways with Capitol after the second of the four. This was in part to her struggling with a drug addiction and entering rehabilitation.

She was back to her winning ways by 1987 with the release of "Everlasting" followed by "Good To Be Back" in 1989 both of which were Gold. It was her next album "Unforgettable... with Love" in 1991 where she sang her father's songs that went stratospheric. It sold over 7m copies in the US alone and won three Grammys, Album of the Year and Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal for "Unforgettable".

That album was followed by another album of Jazz standards, "Take A Look" (1993) (winning her Best Jazz Vocal Performance) and a Christmas album, "Holly & Ivy" (1994), which both sold well going gold, and then her fourth Platinum selling album "Stardust" in 1996 from which she released a virtual duet with her father of "When I Fall In Love" which, despite only charting in Canada, won her another Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Another eight albums were released before her death in 2015 between 1999-2013. She released another album of jazz standards titled "Still Unforgettable" in 2008 which included songs sung, not only by her father but, by Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peggy Lee. It was her fourth #1 album on the Jazz charts and won her yet another Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, the ninth, and last, of her career.

Cole wrote her autobiography "Angel on My Shoulder" in 2000 which was made into a TV movie "Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story". Through her drug use, which she says started whilst at university, she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2008 and later suffered from kidney failure which required dialysis whilst waiting for a transplant which was carried out in 2009. She died of heart failure on 31 Dec 2015.

With over twenty albums to her name, the playlist has had to be severely restricted, so most of her jazz material released from the 90s onwards has been excluded with more focus on her 70s & 80s soul recordings with a few from later.

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