Natalie Cole’s funeral services was held at West Angeles Church of God in Christ in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.
It was painful to hear of Natalie’s Cole’s death at the very beginning of 2016. She had been ailing for a long time after a battle with drug addiction that affected her health long term. She enjoyed her last Christmas with her loved ones.
Natalie was a lovely singer. She started singing at her daddy’s knee as a little girl at six years old, making her debut with her dad on TV’s Nat “King” Cole Show. She was a natural – classified as a pop singer, a rhythm and blues singer, but she was a jazz singer. It was in her blood.
Nat King Cole and my uncle Johnny Hartman were friends. They attended DuSable High School and were mentored by the famous music teacher, Walter Dyett. My mother was a classmate, too.
Their first stage performances were at school functions held in the school auditorium. The Cole family was from Chicago. While in high school, Nat played the piano exclusively, my mother recalls, and he played in the local clubs on the South Side. Didn’t sing.
It was at a bar that a heckler pushed Nat into singing. Not only did Nat sing, but so did his brothers Ike and Freddy. Nat became a legend. His voice, his music, is classical American songbook recorded by Capital Records. Natalie was born into a signing family.
She was discovered while singing in Chicago at the defunct Mister Kelly’s nightclub. Chuck Jackson (Rev. Jesse Jackson’s brother) and the Reverend Marvin Yancy were young songwriters, writing in Jerry Butler’s workshop. They had songs. They had music. They were writing for Aretha Franklin, but she rejected their songs.
So they formed the Natalie Team in Chicago on the South Side. Inseparable was her first song, recorded at PS Recording Studios on 22nd Street with Gene Barge and Tom Tom Washington. It was a hit in 1975. They were magic together and the hits kept coming.
She won the Grammy and became a rhythm and blues star. Natalie and Marvin married and lived in Beverly for a while. They moved to Lake Point Tower before moving to Los Angeles. Natalie went to Marvin’s Baptist church on Sundays. They had one son, Robbie. Marvin died of heart failure in 1985. They were divorced in 1980, but he was the love of her life.
Natalie Cole
Unforgettable. . .
In 1991, Natalie turned the music world on its ear. She crossed all musical barriers as she paid tribute to her dad with Unforgettable. It was the essence of romance with the combined voices of Nat and Natalie. It was simply beautiful music.
It was historic because they did an amazing duet. They won every award given that year. On stage it was spell binding. The image of Nat appeared as he sang and she joined in. She blended old photographs with technology. The beauty of it made you cry. Natalie evolved into a jazz singer.
Natalie’s uncle, Freddy Cole, was the first performer for an N”DIGO Gala, when we held it at the Shedd Aquarium. I brought Natalie to Chicago for the N’DIGO Gala in 2001 at the Chicago Symphony Center after seeing her show in Atlanta. It was an unforgettable evening. If you were there, you remember.
On June 19, 2001, the Chicago Defender’s Earl Calloway wrote this about her classical performance that evening.
“Natalie Cole was superb at N’DIGO gala”
“South of the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue where culture reigns supreme, a throng of people from every dimension pressed into the Symphony Center, where the ladies were gorgeously chic and the men were as sharp as a two-edged razor.
They were present to enjoy the N’Digo Foundation’s ‘Unforgettable Evening’ and it was so, because the night of June 16 will forever remain as a memorable experience with its star, vocalist Natalie Cole, providing the audience with a spectacular performance that was fiercely superb from the first note to its conclusion.”
Natalie was a gifted performer. Always dressed like a Vogue cover girl. She was about to remarry. Her to-be husband, Bishop Kenneth Dupree, sat in the front row at the Gala and she sang directly to him all evening long. It was romance in action. Love in the making. Wow.
Freddy Cole, Natalie’s uncle, is a dear friend. He and his brothers, and Johnny Hartman and Dinah Washington were all friends and started their careers together. Freddie plays Chicago a couple times a year. I don’t miss a show, sometimes seeing all performances.
He is the elegant, debonair gent of the jazz stage, remindful of the era when jazz ruled on the South Side of Chicago. Freddie played baseball and began to sing in mid-life. Close your eyes and you hear brother. Nat. His quiet voice charms a love song like no other. Romantic elegance is the DNA of the King musical family.
Ike Cole was a staple at the old Pump Room for many years. It was a joy to see him. One evening Freddie called me to say that he and Natalie had performed together in New York at the Blue Note. They were in New York together and could not resist the opportunity. Wow.
“Why didn’t you tell me, I would have been there,” I said. He said it wasn’t planned, it just happened. Freddie was beaming through the phone. The next day I called Freddie with a bright idea. I wanted to do a show with the Coles. Freddie and Ike would be on piano and Natalie would be in the middle just singing.
He loved it. It never happened, but I worked on it for a while. Couldn’t pull all the pieces together. Ike passed and then the show became Freddy and Natalie. That didn’t happen, either, but I can dream, can’t I?
Natalie was beautiful, talented, sophisticated. She had a good life. She started singing in the clubs while in college studying psychology. She followed her Dad’s singing footsteps. She became a master songstress. But she was sweet and never got “star like.”
She remained true to her craft and leaves a legacy of beautiful music. She sang her song. She was Nat and Marie’s daughter. She was a bit of both. She continued the legacy of King music as she made her own sound. Unforgettable, indeed.
Source: http://ndigo.com/
