Nat King Cole - Magic Of The Music

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919.He first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Yet he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres.At the age of 42 he moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois. There his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance, at age four, was of Yes! We Have No Bananas. Inspired by the playing of Earl Hines, Cole began his performing career in the mid 1930s while still a teenager, adopting the name Nat Cole.He began formal lessons at the age of 12, eventually learning not only jazz and gospel music but also European classical music, performing, as he said, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff.He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his untimely death in 1965; he is widely considered one of the most important musical personalities in United States history.