Did You Know? 5 Nat King Cole Facts

by Lara on June 14th, 2008

Nat “King” Cole was born in Montgomery, Alabama as Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965).
His father was a preacher in the Baptist church. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois while he was still a child. There, his father became a minister; Nat’s mother Perlina, was the church organist.
His first performance, at age four, was of “Yes, We Have No Bananas”.
Nat Cole and three other musicians formed the “King Cole Swingers” in Long Beach, CA and played in a number of local bars before getting a gig on the Long Beach Pike for $90 per week.
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. While commentators have often mistakenly hailed Cole as the first African-American to host a network television show — an honor belonging to jazz pianist and singer Hazel Scott in 1950 — the Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by a star of Nat Cole’s magnitude.

(Image: NewsCom)