Nat King Cole
American singer and jazz pianist (1919–1965)
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Nat King Cole was an American singer and jazz pianist who became one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century during his career from the 1930s until his death in 1965. He matters because he was a pioneering African American artist who achieved mainstream success and left a lasting influence on popular music and culture.
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Nat "King" Cole (March 17th 1919–February 15th 1965) was a popular American singer and jazz musician. As a piano player, he formed a jazz trio in 1938 that played Los Angeles nightclubs, one of the first jazz trios featuring guitar and piano. Prior to this he had played music since he was a child and had worked with bands since he was sixteen. He was raised in Chicago and exposed to the abundant jazz scene there. He was heavily influenced by pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines. <a href="https://www.la
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Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.
Cole began his career as a jazz pianist in the late 1930s, when he formed the King Cole Trio, which became the top-selling group (and the only black act) on Capitol Records in the 1940s. Cole's trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Starting in 1950, he transitioned to become a solo singer billed as Nat King Cole. Despite achieving mainstream success, Cole faced intense racial discrimination during his career. While not a major vocal public figure in the civil rights movement, Cole was a member of his local NAACP branch and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. He regularly performed for civil rights organizations. From 1956 to 1957, Cole hosted the NBC variety series The Nat King Cole Show, which became the first nationally broadcast television show hosted by a Black American.
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1919 births1965 deaths20th-century African-American male actors20th-century American Episcopalians20th-century American guitarists20th-century American male actors20th-century American singersAfrican-American croonersAfrican-American EpiscopaliansAfrican-American guitaristsAfrican-American jazz pianistsAfrican-American male singers