Nat King Cole

As a toddler, Nathaniel Adams Coles’ family moved from Alabama to Chicago, where his father, became a Baptist minister and his mother the church organist; she taught him how to play. He gave his first performance at the age of 4, “Yes We Have No Bananas”. By the time he hit his teens, he could play pieces from composers such as Bach and Rachmaninoff as well as jazz, and gospel on the piano. The Chicago music scene exposed him to Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone, as he eavesdropped on their performances. At 15, he recorded 2 singles with Eddie Cole’s Swingsters, after dropping out of high school in 1936. They performed in a revival of the musical Shuffle Along. Nat Cole went on tour with the musical and in 1937 married and settled in Los Angeles.