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| When Natalie Cole was just eleven years old in 1961, she made her stage debut with her father in a musical entitled I'm With You. The show may not have been a hit, but it planted the seeds of destiny into little Natalie's life. Ten years after her father's passing, she launched a recording career and scored a Grammy winning hit single--her very first single on Capitol Records, her father's label -- "This Will Be" and a star was born. Natalie was the top female vocalist in R&B throughout the mid to late 1970s. Her no-holds-barred, soulful and earthy style was nothing like the music her father sang. Natalie discovered that she had that old-time gospel shout in college and later, while living with her father's sister, Evelyn ("Aunt Bay") in Chicago and converted from the religion she was raised in -- Episcopalian -- to Baptist, the faith of Nat's family. After success came, Natalie had experienced amazing highs and horrible lows in her personal life and her career. Also being in the massive shadow of her famous father was an obstacle that took years for her to overcome. She was on the verge of losing it all until she kicked a destructive drug habit in the 1980s. Slowly she began to put the pieces of her life back together, and had made an impressive comeback. But her greatest success was yet to come. In 1990, she had an idea to pay tribute to her father, after years of trying to distance herself from the legacy he left her, but wasn't sure if her record label would allow it. She had rebuilt her career by singing dance tunes and pop/R&B ballads, and now she would be doing something completely different. She would be taking a huge risk by abandoning the music that made her famous, but it was one she was willing to take. By 1991, she was at a new label, Elektra Records, and they allowed Natalie to take on this project as her first release. Natalie recorded her father's signature song, "Unforgettable", that year using her father's voice in her version to accompany her in a duet. She was fulfilling a dream of hers...to be able to sing with her father like she used to when she was a kid and to say "Thank you, Dad, for everything." She struck gold when she did, bringing back memories not only for her, but for Nat's loyal fans, too. For years they had hoped that Natalie would do something like this, but for a long time she purposely avoided doing his material so she could establish herself as an artist in her own right. And by the early 1990s, she certainly had! A heart-touching video which featured vintage footage and intimate home movies of Nat Cole accompanied the "Unforgettable" remake, and the careers of both he and Natalie's were reborn. Natalie even recorded the album/CD with several of the same musicians and background vocalists that had worked with her father, and in the very same Capitol Records studio where Nat cut most of his songs, Studio A. It also turned out to be a family affair: Natalie asked Nat's brothers, her uncles Ike and Freddy, to participate in this project, lending their skills on the piano to several songs on the CD. Natalie has said that she felt as if her father's spirit were right there with her, even though when she was born, Nat was hoping that she wouldn't make the decision to do what he did for a living! The UNFORGETTABLE...WITH LOVE CD went straight to #1, and held that position for several weeks during the summer of 1991, becoming Natalie's biggest hit and best selling album (11 million plus sold), and earning a place in musical history as one of the top selling CDs of the decade. It swept every Grammy category it was nominated in (seven) and was the big winner that year (February 1992). By its success, Nat King Cole was introduced to a whole new generation of fans who love him just as much as any of his fans who were there when he first experienced his success over fifty years ago! Natalie said: "One thing I knew was that if I did win a Grammy for UNFORGETTABLE, I would be winning it not only for myself and all those who had worked on it, but ultimately I would be winning it for Dad." Natalie felt passionate about that. Of all the wonderful recordings that her father made, he only had two Grammys to his credit: one, during his lifetime, for an obscure R&B single he made in the late 1950s, "Midnight Flyer". The other was a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, presented in 1990. Where was the justice in that? Nat wasn't there to appreciate it. He had been a founding member of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), and had been nominated many times, but only won once. Natalie's victory was Nat's victory, which is why it brought her so much satisfaction. Natalie has since recorded more of her father's music, and Nat's vocals appeared on another Grammy-winning tune with his "Sweetie", "When I Fall In Love ", and also a couple of new renditions of the Cole classic, "The Christmas Song". Natalie, on her own, has made songs that have the same kind of feeling that Nat's music captured. Check out this comparison... Watch and listen to Natalie's "Take A Look" video from 1993 by clicking on the link below, and then check out Daddy Nat's "Funny (Not Much)" from this version from 1961...You can hear the similarities in the styles of these two songs...Natalie is certainly her father's daughter. I really love the two of them. They are the ultimate father/daughter team!! [The "Funny (Not Much)" link is to Capitol Records' Nat King Cole site, where you can hear that song and many of Nat's hits in their entirety!] The unforgettable life of Nat on video! Order by clicking HERE Another great Nat video, "Loved In Return" Order by clicking HERE Natalie Cole has her own story to tell...order the video "Livin' For Love: The Natalie Cole Story" |
| Questions or comments? Email me at cozynfine@hotmail.com |
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| SITE LINKS Main Nat's Bio King Cole Clips Cole Photo Gallery Discography Lyrics Who's Who In The Trio Nat and Natalie NKC Musical Greeting Nat Chat Capitol Records' official Nat King Cole site NKC Links |
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| an awesome father-daughter team! |
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