Nat King Cole
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Published: November 9, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 438
ISBN-13: 9781555534691
Subjects: Biography: film, television & music; Biography: general; Jazz; Singers; Composers & Musicians - Jazz; Biography / Autobiography; Biography & Autobiography; People of Color; Biography/Autobiography; Genres & Styles - Pop Vocal; Entertainment & Performing Arts - General; Genres & Styles - Jazz; Biography & Autobiography / General; United States; 1917-1965; Biography; Cole, Nat King,
Description: Depicts a multitalented musician who, whether contending with racism, with black leaders criticizing his lack of activism or with jazz critics who believed he had "sold out", maintained an implacable, dignified demeanor. Born Nathaniel Coles, he grew up in Chicago in the 1920s, when Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and Gatemouth Earl Hines were helping to turn that city into a virtual mecca of jazz. He moved to Los Angeles in 1937 and Capitol Records recognized the attractiveness of his liquid voice and his exquisite style, making him a star as he and his trio moved away from jazz and embraced the pop ballads the public craved.