Nat ‘King’ Cole

Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole, June 1947
Background information
Birth name	Nathaniel Adams Coles
Born	(1919-03-17)March 17, 1919 Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Died	February 15, 1965(1965-02-15) (aged 45) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Genres	Jazz swing blues traditional pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, vocalist
Instruments	Piano vocals
Years active	1934–1965
Labels	Ammor Excelsior Decca Capitol
Associated acts	Oscar Moore Irving Ashby John Collins

Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He recorded over one hundred songs that became hits on the pop charts. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first black man to host an American television series.

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919. He had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy (b. 1931), and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of the Cole brothers pursued careers in music. When Nat King Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister.

Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance was "Yes! We Have No Bananas" at the age of four. He began formal lessons at 12, learning jazz, gospel, and classical music on piano "from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff."

The Cole family moved to the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where he attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School, the school Sam Cooke attended a few years later. He participated in Walter Dyett's music program at DuSable High School. He would sneak out of the house to visit clubs, sitting outside to hear Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and Jimmie Noone.