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He started in life as Nathaniel Adams Coles, but left it among counts and dukes as jazz royalty. The man who became Nat King Cole was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1919, but his hometown didn’t play any discernible role in his life: his musical life started in Chicago and he made his name in Los Angeles. That doesn’t mean it came easy. From the best source online I found on Nat King Cole (and take a bow, Indiana Public Media):
“Before he became the ‘Unforgettable’ star of both music and television, Nat King Cole was just a work-a-day pianist in Los Angeles, trying desperately to secure his next gig.”
Like a lot of musicians of the era, Cole first learned music in the church where his father served as minister. It was his mother, however, who first sat him down in front of a church organ. The young man proved a quick study, playing his first song in front of a crowd at age four (“Yes, We Have No Bananas”; old one), but the Coles family was precocious like that: all three sons - in order, Eddie, Nat, Ike, and Freddy - went on to pursue careers in music.
The call came early for Cole, before the end of high school, in fact (I found no mention of what his parents thought of this). He took his first stab at forming a band in 1934, at age 15, with a group he named the Royal Dukes. When that act sputtered out, Cole found a place as a member of a touring band under Noble Sissle (again, nothing about his parents’ thoughts). Once he got back to Chicago, Nat Cole teamed up with his older brother Eddie to form a sextet called Eddie Cole’s Swingsters. That group enjoyed some local success, even managed to record a couple sides for Decca Records, but Sissle came calling again and Nat Cole went.
The offer was better this time, a role in the touring group of a revival of Sissle’s once-groundbreaking musical, Shuffle Along. That one decision changed his life. He met and married his first wife - Nadine Robinson, who was also part of the Shuffle Along tour - and, when the revival petered out in Los Angeles, the young couple decided they liked the city and the weather and settled down. It being the late 1930s, Cole attempted to organize one of the big bands that dominated the era. When that stab at the big time failed, Cole tried something novel for the time - i.e., bringing together a band that could fit on any stage, even a seedy nightclub: a trio.
“Before he became the ‘Unforgettable’ star of both music and television, Nat King Cole was just a work-a-day pianist in Los Angeles, trying desperately to secure his next gig.”
Like a lot of musicians of the era, Cole first learned music in the church where his father served as minister. It was his mother, however, who first sat him down in front of a church organ. The young man proved a quick study, playing his first song in front of a crowd at age four (“Yes, We Have No Bananas”; old one), but the Coles family was precocious like that: all three sons - in order, Eddie, Nat, Ike, and Freddy - went on to pursue careers in music.
The call came early for Cole, before the end of high school, in fact (I found no mention of what his parents thought of this). He took his first stab at forming a band in 1934, at age 15, with a group he named the Royal Dukes. When that act sputtered out, Cole found a place as a member of a touring band under Noble Sissle (again, nothing about his parents’ thoughts). Once he got back to Chicago, Nat Cole teamed up with his older brother Eddie to form a sextet called Eddie Cole’s Swingsters. That group enjoyed some local success, even managed to record a couple sides for Decca Records, but Sissle came calling again and Nat Cole went.
The offer was better this time, a role in the touring group of a revival of Sissle’s once-groundbreaking musical, Shuffle Along. That one decision changed his life. He met and married his first wife - Nadine Robinson, who was also part of the Shuffle Along tour - and, when the revival petered out in Los Angeles, the young couple decided they liked the city and the weather and settled down. It being the late 1930s, Cole attempted to organize one of the big bands that dominated the era. When that stab at the big time failed, Cole tried something novel for the time - i.e., bringing together a band that could fit on any stage, even a seedy nightclub: a trio.
