The son of a Baptist Minister, Nathaniel Coles was born on march 17th 1919 on Saint Johns Street, Montgomery, Alabama.

He started playing piano from ane early age, his only teacher being his mother. It is reputed that by the age of four he was playing piano in his kindergarten class.

At twelve he was an accomplished pianist and accompanied the choir at his fathers church in Chicago. One of his first ever hits - 'straighten up and fly right' - was taken from the theme of a sermon given by his father. In his late teens he graduated to high school and local jazz bands in Chicago. His first big break came in 1936 when he joined the all-black revue Shuffle Along.

Cole originally built his reputation as a jazz pianist but started singing proffessionally after somebody shouted out a request for 'Sweet Lorraine'. Such was the audience's response to his rendition that Nat decide to start singing in his act, and he never looked back. Later, in 1937, he formed the Nat King Cole Trio with fellow musicians Oscar Moore and Wesley Prince and in 1940 they recorded 'Sweet Lorraine' for Decca Records. It was an immediate smash hit and sold a million copies in the United States alone. By the age of twenty Nat's music was known in every beer joint in L.A.

The Nat King Cole Trio soon became very popular and were to become one of the first artists to sign to Capitol Records releasing many best selling songs. In later years he sold so many records that Capitol's headquarters came to be known as 'The House that Nat Built'.

In 1946 Nat became the first black man to host his own radio show, playing a half hour every saturday afternoon from whatever town he was playing that day. The show would run for four years. In the late forties Nat decided to become a solo artist and his first million-selling record 'Nature Boy' was released in 1948.

When he started to earn more money, Nat bought a house in a very exclusive area of Los Angelese. Some local residents protested saying that they didn't want any 'undesirables' moving into the area, to which Nat replied that neither did he, and if any were to move in he would be the first to complain.

In october 1956, he started his own TV show, the first serious attempt by a TV station to have a black man host his own show. It became very popular but businesses were worried that white southern audiences would boycott their products if they advertised during the show.

Nat did a lot of work to make things better for black people, often refusing to play at places that would not allow black people in. He made some establishments change their rules before he would play there. He would remember back to the early days of the Trio when the band were not allowed to stay at the places they played.

One time, when he was playing a concert in his home state of Alabama, some men tried to kidnap him from off the stage because they were so angry about a black man being allowed to put on a concert. He soon became so famous however, that he was invited to places by President Kennedy. In fact, The President even attended his daughter Natalie's debutante ball.

Other million-selling songs were released including 'Mona Lisa' in 1950, 'Too Young' in 1951, 'Answer me' in 1954, 'A Blossom Fell' in 1955 and 'Ramblin' Rose' in 1962.

Nat appeared in many movies, most notably in 'St. Louis Blues', based on the life story of the blind blues composer, W.C.Handy and also a film about himself 'The Nat King Cole Story'.

Sadly on feb 15th 1956, at St. John's Hospital, Sant Monica, California Nat died. He died of lung cancer, brought on through years of excessive smoking. However, he has continued to be popular, to this day selling huge quantities of albums posthumously.

On stage and off, his manner was the same. He believed in The American Way, freedom and democracy for all people.

His music, his attitude and his philosophy was that of a saintly man, who believed everyone was equal. With his velvety voice he performed, created and sang music that was pleasing to the ear, for all folks to enjoy. Nat King Cole's music will continue to live on for many generations to come.