Natalie Cole en Español
| Natalie Cole en Español | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Natalie Cole | ||||
| Released | June 25, 2013 | |||
| Genre | Latin pop | |||
| Length | 43:55 | |||
| Label | Verve | |||
| Producer | Rudy Pérez | |||
| Natalie Cole chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| JazzTimes | (favorable) |
Natalie Cole en Español is the twenty-third and final studio album by Natalie Cole, released on June 25, 2013 through Verve Records. Produced by the Cuban American composer Rudy Pérez, it is her first and only Spanish album and her first record released following her kidney transplant in 2009. The album is a follow-up to her third Christmas album Caroling, Caroling: Christmas with Natalie Cole. Natalie Cole en Español consists of twelve tracks, which are cover versions of Spanish standards. The album features duets with Juan Luis Guerra, Chris Botti, Arthur Hanlon, Andrea Bocelli and a posthumous duet with her father Nat King Cole.
One of the really cool things that Rudy said to me was, 'I'm not looking for you to become Spanish or Latin. I need you to still be Natalie Cole.'
Cole had expressed interest in recording a Spanish album for nearly a decade but her label Capitol rejected her pitch and told her "the timing wasn't right". David Foster, with whom she had previously worked with on Unforgettable... with Love (1991), encouraged to attempt to record the album again. Cole cited Salvadoran nurse Esther as one of the primary influences for the recording of the album. Cole received a kidney transplant from Esther's niece in 2009 and referred to her connection with the nurse as causing her to be "drawn even more to Latin people, Latin programs". She added her connection to the Salvadoran family led her to "feel like [she's] part Latino now" and "(made) the desire to make this record become even stronger".
Weary of comparisons to her father's 1958 Spanish album Cole Español, Cole described her album as "not [being] a tribute to my father as much as it is a tribute to Latin music because of my father". During the recording of the album, Pérez served as Cole's language coach. Cole said "Black people and Hispanic people have the same kind of feel for passion, for music, for fun, for heart." She expressed a love for language by listing "I love French ... I love Portuguese, I love Italiano[,]" but emphasized that "for [her] right now is Español".
...
Wikipedia