Nat King Cole

Around 1964, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on February 15, 1965.

He was a freemason.

Nat King Cole was born as Nathaniel Adams Colesn on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama, to Edward Coles and Perlina Coles. He had three brothers and a half-sister.

He began taking piano lessons from the time he was four years old. His mother was his first instructor and he was soon guided by a church choir director.

At the age of 12, he started taking formal music lessons. He was taught jazz, western classical music and gospel music. He would often sneak out of home to listen to artists at various clubs in Chicago.

At 15, he dropped out of school in order to pursue a career as a jazz pianist. For a brief period of time, he worked with his brother, Eddie, who helped him bag his first opportunity in recording in 1936.

He performed on the national tour of the musical revue, ‘Shuffle Along’, in which he played the piano. From 1937, he started working on what would later become the music group, ‘King Cole Trio’.

As a member of ‘King Cole Trio’ he went on various tours. In 1943, the group tasted breakthrough success with ‘That Ain't Right’, which was also written by him.

Later in 1943, the ‘King Cole Trio’ gained mainstream success with the song, ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’. Written by him, the song was inspired by one of his father’s sermons.

‘King Cole Trio’ continued to enjoy success and top the music charts with many pop singles and holiday classics. 'The Christmas Song' and '(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons' were popular hits.

During the 1950s, he went on to pursue a career as a solo artist and soon became a successful one. He earned many hits like 'Unforgettable', 'Too Young’, 'Mona Lisa' and 'Nature Boy'.

The song ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’ is one of the most popular songs of the group, ‘King Cole Trio’. It peaked at the number one position on the Harlem Hit Parade and the Most Played Jukebox Hillbilly Records.