NATALIE COLE Biography - Musicians

 
 

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NATALIE COLE

Name: Natalie Cole                                                                     
Birth name: Natalie Maria Cole                                                         
Born: 6 February 1950 Los Angeles, California, United States                           
                                                                                       
Natalie Cole (born Natalie Maria Cole on February 6, 1950) is an influential           
American singer-songwriter who has won eight Grammy Awards throughout her career.     
She achieved success in her early career as an R&B star, but smoothly changed         
her repertoire towards a more jazzy orientated musical style since the early 90's.     
                                                                                       
Natalie Cole is the daughter of noted crooner Nat King Cole. In several               
interviews, Cole talked about her upbringing; she was raised in an affluent area       
of Los Angeles, and her family, which she has referred to as "the black Kennedys",     
lived just a few doors down from the California governor. Cole also stated in         
an interview that she did not connect with her cultural heritage or "blackness"       
until she attended college. She was 15 years old when her famous father died           
of lung cancer.                                                                       
                                                                                       
She attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. In       
her childhood, she was exposed to the greats of jazz, soul and blues at an early       
age, and she began performing at the age of 11.                                       
                                                                                       
Cole has been married three times. The product of her marriage to Marvin Yancy         
is her son Robert Yancy, born in 1977; he's a musician who tours with her. She         
later married former Rufus drummer Andre Fischer, who co-produced her album           
Unforgettable... With Love.