A bit of Cole for Christmas, and more memories of 'Unforgettable' voices

During this holiday season, many radio stations are playing Christmas music around the clock.  Various artists singing various songs – many of them so familiar that we sing or hum along with them.  Of course, one of the classics is Nat King Cole singing “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” by Robert Wells and Mel Torme. Cole’s treatments of song in the 1950s and through the mid-1960s made him synonymous with gentle ballads as well as rousing jazz-inspired tunes.

Nat King Cole was one of the earliest African American artists to become mainstream in both television and recordings − watched in millions of households enjoying his television show and buying his records. Unfortunately, he lost his battle with lung cancer too soon and died in 1965 at the age of 45. However, not before enjoying some time with his five children – the oldest being Natalie Cole, born in 1950.

The loss of her father while still in her teens affected her entire life. Her musical taste moved away from her father’s easy-listening style and more toward the Motown sounds of Aretha Franklin and the rock influences of Janis Joplin.  She graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1972, and shortly after struck out to stake her own musical career.

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She performed a few gigs with her group called Black Magic and made some demo tapes that got the attention of Capitol Records. That group helped her produce her first album, called “Inseparable,” which contained her first hit “This Will Be.” Release of the album occurred just before Natalie Cole made her first appearance in the courtyard of the Ramada Inn on Front Street in Binghamton on Aug. 7, 1975.

The Ramada had recently opened in 1971 after originally being Schrafft’s Motor Inn, and the move allowed for more music entertainment at the facility. Natalie Cole’s appearance was one of the earliest at the rebranded hotel. Gene Grey, the entertainment reporter for the newspaper, wrote a review of her appearance at which the crowd included a mix of “the locals, the tourists, the conventioneers around the bar and potted poolside plastic palms.”

If the crowd that night thought that Natalie Cole was going to perform a medley of her father’s hits, the only one she sang was “L-O-V-E.”  The rest of her set included her own recordings with a heavy influence of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and others. She wanted to do more music and train her voice to do what she wanted it to do.  Apparently, all of that work paid off.

Natalie Cole returned just a few months later in February 1976 – once again at the Ramada Inn, this time with a group called the Kingsmen, while her record sales continued to climb. Her second hit from her initial album “Inseparable” led to her receiving a Grammy award later that year – beating out her idol Aretha Franklin in the R&B category.

Throughout the 1970s and well into the 1980s, Natalie Cole’s star continued to rise. She would win nine Grammy Awards and have excellent record sales. But drug use and medical issues with her kidneys slowed much of her career. She took her own success and merged it with her father in 1991 when she released “Unforgettable,” a marvelous "virtual duet: with her father. Both the song and the music video took off, and the album featuring her versions of Nat's songs sold millions of copies.

Several more albums of classics and new material followed, but she stepped away a bit starting in 2009 due to health issues. Despite some continued bookings, she cut back on appearances. She died on Dec. 31, 2015, at the age of 65 from congestive heart failure. The music industry heavily felt the loss of her presence.

On a personal note, this writer and his new bride used her recording of “Unforgettable” in May 1992 at our wedding — it was and remains our song — a mixture of two classic voices with an undeniable message for the ages.  A loss too soon for both father and daughter.

Gerald Smith is a former Broome County historian. Email him at historysmiths@stny.rr.com.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Natalie Cole brought talent, memories of Nat King Cole to Binghamton