Editing Nat King Cole (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
[[File:Portrait of Nat King Cole, Paramount Theater, New York, N.Y., ca. Nov. 1946 LOC 4931764947 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Nat King Cole, Paramount Theater, New York City, November 1946]]
When he was 15, Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. After his brother Eddie, a bassist, came home from touring with [[Noble Sissle]], they formed a sextet and recorded two singles for [[Decca Records|Decca]] in 1936 as Eddie Cole's Swingsters. They performed in a revival of the musical ''[[Shuffle Along]]''. Nat Cole went on tour with the musical. In 1937, he married Nadine Robinson, who was a member of the cast. After the show ended in Los Angeles, Cole and Nadine settled there while he looked for work.<ref name="Ruhlmann"/>

One day in 1938, as he was relaxing in his hotel room, Bing Crosby heard the Nat Cole Trio for the first time from Jim Otto’s Steak House, and then took Johnny Mercer to hear them. Crosby soon had the trio on his ''[[Kraft Music Hall]]'' radio program, and Mercer would later sign them upon founding [[Capitol Records]]. In 1944, “Straighten Up and Fly Right” soared to the top of the charts.
With Crosby continually bringing them back on his program, the Trio even substituted for him in the summer of 1946.
 
Cole led a big band and found work playing piano in nightclubs. When a club owner asked him to form a band, Cole hired bassist [[Wesley Prince]] and guitarist [[Oscar Moore]]. They called themselves the King Cole Swingsters after the nursery rhyme in which "[[Old King Cole|Old King Cole was a merry old soul]]". They changed their name to the King Cole Trio before making [[transcription disc|radio transcription]]s and recording for small labels.<ref name="Ruhlmann">{{cite web|last1=Ruhlmann|first1=William|title=Nat King Cole|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nat-king-cole-mn0000317093/biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=February 22, 2018|archive-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331114204/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nat-king-cole-mn0000317093/biography|url-status=live}}</ref>

===1940s===
Cole recorded "[[Sweet Lorraine]]" in 1940, and it became his first hit.<ref name="Yanow Swing">{{cite book|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=Swing|date=2000|publisher=Miller Freeman|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0879306007|page=[https://archive.org/details/swing00yano/page/203 203]|url=https://archive.org/details/swing00yano/page/203}}</ref> According to legend, his career as a vocalist started when a drunken bar patron demanded that Cole sing the song. He said that this fabricated story sounded good, so Cole did not argue with it. There was a customer one night who demanded that he sing, but because it was a song Cole did not know, he sang "Sweet Lorraine" instead. As people heard Cole's vocal talent, they requested more vocal songs, and he obliged.<ref name="Intimate">{{cite book|last1=Cole| first1=Maria| title=Nat King Cole: An Intimate Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/natkingcoleintim00cole|url-access=registration|year=1971|publisher= William Morrow|isbn=978-0688021535}}</ref>

In 1941, the trio recorded "That Ain't Right" for Decca, followed the next year by "All for You" for [[Excelsior Records|Excelsior]].<ref name="Ruhlmann" /> They recorded "[[I'm Lost]]", a song written by [[Otis René]], the owner of Excelsior.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170315223539/https://books.google.com/books?id=jRgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT85&lpg=PT85&dq=%22Excelsior+Records%22+Rene&source=bl&ots=WGb7s0l1Un&sig=4d9p5VXP5s9T0nsJFji0eYTXagY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FyZHT9rsHIHh0QHww_WCDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA "Buck-Five Disk of Indies Seen Different Ways"]. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''. September 1, 1945. Retrieved February 24, 2012.</ref>

{{blockquote |quote=I started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.|source=Nat King Cole, Voice of America interview, {{Circa|1956}}.<ref name=pc22>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19775/m1/ |title=Show 22 – Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A Skinny Dip in the Easy Listening Mainstream. [Part 1] |show=22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1692127/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402023122/http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/index-to-interviews | archive-date=April 2, 2009 |title=Pop Chronicles Interviews #131 - Nat "King" Cole |work=[[Pop Chronicles]] |publisher=University of North Texas Libraries}}</ref>}}

Cole was the original house pianist for [[Jazz at the Philharmonic]] and performed at the first recorded concert in 1944. He was credited on [[Mercury Records|Mercury]] as "Shorty Nadine", a derivative of his wife's name, because Cole had an exclusive contract with [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]<ref>{{cite web|author1=Holmes, Roy|author2=Windisch, Simon|url=http://highstreets.co.uk/kcc/html/biograph.htm|title=Nat King Cole Biography|website=Highstreets.co.uk|access-date=January 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116040836/http://highstreets.co.uk/kcc/html/biograph.htm|archive-date=January 16, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> since signing with the label the year before. He used a variety of other [[pseudonym]]s for the same reason, including Eddie Laguna, Sam Schmaltz, Nature Boy and A Guy, "or whatever name for himself he could think of, but only as an instrumentalist, never as a vocalist."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ruuth |first1=Marianne |title=Nat King Cole |year=1992 |url=https://archive.org/details/natkingcole0000ruut/page/66/mode/1up |url-access=registration|publisher=Melrose Square Pub. Co |isbn=
9780870675935 |series=Melrose Square Black American series |location=[[Los Angeles]] |page=66  |oclc=26884864 |access-date=16 January 2024}}</ref> Cole recorded with [[Illinois Jacquet]] and [[Lester Young]].<ref name="Yanow Swing" />

[[File:Nat King Cole Oscar Moore Johnny Miller King Cole Trio 1947.JPG|thumb|180px|''King Cole Trio Time'' on NBC with Cole on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Johnny Miller on double bass, 1947]]

In 1946, the trio broadcast ''King Cole Trio Time'', a 15-minute radio program. This was the first radio program to be hosted by a black musician. From 1946 to 1948, the trio recorded [[transcription disc|radio transcription]]s for Capitol Records Transcription Service.<ref>{{cite news|title=Capitol Transcriptions ad| url= http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-06-28-BC.pdf|access-date=December 22, 2014| agency= Broadcasting|date=June 28, 1948}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs|url=http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logk1025.htm/|access-date=June 3, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224222107/http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logk1025.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> They performed on the radio programs ''Swing Soiree'', ''[[Lorillard Tobacco Company|Old Gold]]'', ''[[The Chesterfield Supper Club]]'', ''[[Kraft Music Hall]]'', and ''[[The Orson Welles Almanac]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Radio%20Almanac | title=Radio Almanac | publisher=RadioGOLDINdex | access-date=February 13, 2014 | archive-date=September 15, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915215501/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Radio%20Almanac | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Almanac Part 1">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1944OrsonWellesRadioAlmanacpart1 |title=Orson Welles Almanac — Part 1 |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=February 13, 2014}}</ref>

Cole began recording and performing pop-oriented material in which he was often accompanied by a [[string orchestra]]. Cole's stature as a popular star was cemented by hits such as "All for You" (1943), "[[The Christmas Song]]" (1947),<ref>Cole recorded "The Christmas Song" four times&nbsp;— on June 14, 1946, with the Nat King Cole Trio; on August 19, 1946, with an added string section; on August 24, 1953; and in 1961 for the double album ''The Nat King Cole Story''. The final version, recorded in stereo, is the one most often heard today.</ref> "[[Route 66 (song)|(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66]]", "[[(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons]]" (1946), "[[There! I've Said It Again]]" (1947), "[[Nature Boy]]" (1948), "[[Frosty the Snowman]]", "[[Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)|Mona Lisa]]" (No. 1 song of 1950), "[[Orange Colored Sky]]" (1950), "[[Too Young (Sidney Lippman and Sylvia Dee song)|Too Young]]" (the No. 1 song of 1951).<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+Hot+100&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1951 |title=''Billboard'' website |magazine=Billboard |access-date=March 4, 2010 |archive-date=November 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107001535/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+Hot+100&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1951 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== 1950s ===
On June 7, 1953, Cole performed for the ninth [[Cavalcade of Jazz]] concert held at [[Wrigley Field]] in Chicago which was produced by [[Leon Hefflin, Sr.]]. Featured that day were [[Roy Brown (blues musician)|Roy Brown]] and his Orchestra, [[Shorty Rogers]], [[Earl Bostic]], [[Don Tosti]] and His Mexican Jazzmen, and [[Louis Armstrong]] and his All Stars with [[Velma Middleton]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Black music history of Los Angeles, its roots : 50 years in Black music : a classical pictorial history of Los Angeles Black music of the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s : photographic essays that define the people, the artistry and their contributions to the wonderful world of entertainment|last=Reed, Tom.|date=1992|publisher=Black Accent on L.A. Press|isbn=096329086X|edition=1st, limited|location=Los Angeles|oclc=28801394}}</ref><ref>"Nat King Cole Star of Cavalcade", Headliner AD ''Los Angeles Sentinel'', May 28, 1953.</ref>

On November 5, 1956, ''The Nat 'King' Cole Show'' debuted on NBC. The variety program was one of the first hosted by an African American.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web|last1=Chilton|first1=Karen|title=Hazel Scott's Lifetime of High Notes|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/womens-history/hazel-scotts-lifetime-of-high-notes-145939027/|website=smithsonian.com|publisher=Smithsonian|access-date=November 30, 2016|date=October 15, 2009|quote=[Hazel Scott was] the first black performer to host her own nationally syndicated television show....|archive-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130020258/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/womens-history/hazel-scotts-lifetime-of-high-notes-145939027/|url-status=live}}</ref> The program started at a length of fifteen minutes but was increased to a half-hour in July 1957. [[Rheingold Beer]] was a regional sponsor, but a national sponsor was never found. The show was in trouble financially despite efforts by NBC, [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Eartha Kitt]], [[Frankie Laine]], [[Peggy Lee]], and [[Mel Tormé]].<ref name=Shulman>{{cite book |last1=Shulman |first1=Arthur |last2=Youman |first2=Roger |title=How Sweet It Was — Television: A Pictorial Commentary |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History-of-Telecasting/How-Sweet-it-Was-Shulman-1966.pdf |year=1966 |publisher=[[Crown Publishing Group#Imprints|Bonanza Books]], a division of Crown Publishers, Inc., by arrangement with Shorecrest, Inc. |location=New York |oclc=36258864 |chapter=Chapter 3: The Sounds of Music |isbn=978-0517081358 |quote= |access-date=December 16, 2021 |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021035805/https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History-of-Telecasting/How-Sweet-it-Was-Shulman-1966.pdf |url-status=live }} (Book has page numbers)</ref> Cole decided to end the program. The last episode aired on December 17, 1957.<ref name="Gourse">{{cite book |last1=Gourse |first1=Leslie |title=Unforgettable : the life and mystique of Nat King Cole |url=https://archive.org/details/unforgettable00lesl |url-access=registration |date=1991 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/unforgettable00lesl/page/185 185] |isbn=978-0312078775 |quote=The network supported this show from the beginning. From Mr. Sarnoff on down, they tried to sell it to agencies. They could have dropped it after the first thirteen weeks. Shows that made more money than mine were dropped. They offered me a new time at 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays on a cooperative basis, but I decided not to take it. I feel played out.}}</ref> Commenting on the lack of sponsorship, Cole said shortly after its demise: "[[Madison Avenue#Advertising industry|Madison Avenue]] is afraid of the dark."<ref>[http://www.quotesstar.com/quotes/m/madison-avenue-is-afraid-of-171261.html "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark"], ''Star Quotes''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107135845/http://www.quotesstar.com/quotes/m/madison-avenue-is-afraid-of-171261.html|date=November 7, 2011}} "(1956) Quoted in article at the Songwriters Hall of Fame."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://adage.com/article?article_id=133638 |title=Study: Ad Agencies Exhibit 'Pervasive Racial Discrimination' &#124; News |website=AdAge.com |date=January 8, 2009 |access-date=January 31, 2016}}</ref>

Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to record hits that sold millions throughout the world, such as "[[Smile (Charlie Chaplin song)|Smile]]", "[[Pretend (1952 song)|Pretend]]", "[[A Blossom Fell]]", and "If I May". His pop hits were collaborations with [[Nelson Riddle]],<ref name=pc22/> [[Gordon Jenkins]], and [[Ralph Carmichael]]. Riddle arranged several of Cole's 1950s albums, including ''Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love'' (1953), his first 10-inch LP. In 1955, "[[Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup]]" reached number 7 on the ''Billboard'' chart. ''[[Love Is the Thing]]'' went to number one in April 1957 and remained his only number one album.

In 1959, Cole received a Grammy Award for [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song|Best Performance By a "Top 40" Artist]] for "Midnight Flyer".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1959-239.html |title=Grammy Awards 1959 |work=Grammy |access-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-date=September 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920103207/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1959-239.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Capitol Records Building LA.jpg|thumb|The [[Capitol Records Building]], known as "The House That Nat Built" on [[Vine St.]]]]

In 1958, Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record ''[[Cole Español]]'', an album sung entirely in Spanish. It was so popular in Latin America and the U.S. that it was followed by two more Spanish-language albums: ''[[A Mis Amigos]]'' (1959) and ''[[More Cole Español]]'' (1962).

After the change in musical tastes, Cole's ballads appealed little to young listeners, despite a successful attempt at rock and roll with "[[Send for Me (song)|Send for Me]]",<ref name=pc22/> which peaked at number 6 on the pop chart. Like [[Dean Martin]], [[Frank Sinatra]], and [[Tony Bennett]], Cole found that the pop chart had been taken over by youth-oriented acts.

=== 1960s ===
In 1960, Cole's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle left Capitol to join [[Reprise Records]], which was established by Frank Sinatra. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album, ''Wild Is Love'', with lyrics by [[Raymond Rasch|Ray Rasch]] and Dotty Wayne. Cole later retooled the concept album into an [[Off-Broadway]] show, ''I'm with You''.

Nevertheless, Cole recorded several hit singles during the 1960s, including "Let There Be Love" with [[George Shearing]] in 1961, the country-flavored hit "[[Ramblin' Rose]]" in August 1962 (reaching No.  2 on the Pop chart), "[[Dear Lonely Hearts]]" (No. 13), "[[That Sunday, That Summer]]" (No. 12) and "[[Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (song)|Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer]]"<ref name=pc22/> (his final top-ten hit, reaching number 6 on the Pop chart). Cole performed in many short films, sitcoms, and television shows and played [[W. C. Handy]] in the film ''[[St. Louis Blues (1958 film)|St. Louis Blues]]'' (1958). Cole appeared in ''The Nat King Cole Story'', ''[[China Gate (1957 film)|China Gate]]'', and ''[[The Blue Gardenia]]'' (1953).

In January 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances, on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]''. He was introduced as "the best friend a song ever had" and sang "[[When I Fall in Love]]". ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965), Cole's final film, was released several months after his death.

Earlier on, Cole's shift to traditional pop led some jazz critics and fans to accuse him of selling out, but he never abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956, Cole recorded an all-jazz album, ''[[After Midnight (Nat King Cole album)|After Midnight]]'', and many of his albums after this are fundamentally jazz-based, being scored for big band without strings, although the arrangements focus primarily on the vocal rather than instrumental leads.

Cole had one of his last major hits in 1963, two years before his death, with "[[Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (song)|Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer]]", which reached number 6 on the Pop chart. "[[Unforgettable (Nat King Cole song)|Unforgettable]]" was made famous again in 1991 by Cole's daughter Natalie when modern recording technology was used to reunite father and daughter in a duet. The duet version rose to the top of the pop charts, almost forty years after its original popularity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Teachout|first1=Terry|title=Nat King Cole|journal=The American Scholar|date=1992|volume=26|url=http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=6f10b1ac-7023-4d70-927f-78a426b5840c%40sessionmgr111&vid=0&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=rih&AN=1992-02661|access-date=October 1, 2014|archive-date=February 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215154832/https://shibboleth.arizona.edu/idp/profile/SAML2/POST/SSO;jsessionid=node01m0jwzyai780m1t37bn8bgbup82094183.node0?execution=e1s1#db=rih&AN=1992-02661|url-status=live}}</ref>

Cole's final studio album was titled ''[[L-O-V-E]]''. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965.