NATALIE COLE
Natalie Cole is still PuRsuiNG heR fiRst love — musiC
Natalie Cole is one of a kind. The daughter of Nat “King” Cole and jazz singer Maria Hawkins (who sang with Count Basie and Duke Ellington), she was raised in a home that was always filled with the best musicians.
She began performing at 11 but stayed in school, earning a degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1972 before pursing music full time. While knocking on doors and gigging with her band, Black Magic, every label turned her down except Capitol Records — her late father’s label. If they didn’t, she knows what she would have done instead. “I would have been a doctor, I studied child psychology. That is what I would have done with my life.”
Her first album, 1975’s “Inseparable,” instantly launched her into superstardom. She earned Grammys for best new artist and best female R&B vocal for “This Will Be (an Everlasting Love),” toppling Aretha Franklin, who had won the award eight years in a row. She would repeat the win the following year for “Sophisticated Lady.”
Success came fast and furious in the 1970s with five more gold and two platinum albums. Throughout her career, she has earned 21 Grammy nominations and nine wins, placing her in the top tier with such contemporaries as Ella Fitzgerald (13), Shirley Caesar (11) and Chaka Khan (10).
Her career has taken her around the world, singing in the best company, including duets with Peabo Bryson, Placido Domingo, Johnny Mathis and, of course, her father. Ms. Cole’s last release, in 2013, “Natalie Cole en Espanol,” was a return to some of her musical roots and, in many ways, a tribute to her father, who also recorded Spanish-language albums.
Still, the 65-year-old singer, who performs at The Meadows Casino Saturday, is surprised by her success. “I’m still shocked to be here — I really am. There is so much going on. The world has changed so much, and is changing so much. I think it’s the authenticity that people connect with.”
That authenticity is well-documented in her 2000 autobiography, “Angel on My Shoulder,” where she frankly told her own harrowing tale of drug addiction. During those years she contracted hepatitis C from intravenous drug use. Eventually she would spend three days a week on dialysis to stay alive while waiting for a kidney transplant.
The call came in 2009 when she was at the bedside of her sister Cooke, who was dying from lung cancer. She was so distraught that she couldn’t even process the initial call. Family members and her manager intervened. As she was receiving the organ hours later, her sister died.
Her second book, “Love Brought Me Back: A Journey of Loss and Gain,” tells not only of Natalie and Cooke’s journey, but also of her donor Jessica and Jessica’s sister Patty, who made the donation possible.
After all of that, Ms. Cole’s voice is still luminous and she still has some “big wish” collaborators on her short list.
“I’m a big fan of Sting. I’m also a fan of some country artists — Travis Tritt, Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town. They are a great country band. I’m really becoming a fan of country music.”
It can be said that musical collaboration took on a whole new meaning with her 1991 release of “Unforgettable.” Producer David Foster called upon engineer Al Schmitt to make the magic happen. He recorded her live with a 55-piece orchestra and took the vocal track from her father’s original recording. The technology was quite novel then, and became all the rage. Her own collaboration process hasn’t changed much. “Everybody is different. You start off with a collaboration with a writer, then work on the seam together for the actual project. What do you want to do with the work? Do you want to make an album that speaks to women, or talk about love or life? It just depends. You get together with someone that you have the most chemistry with.”
This time around, she’s mining songs from the Great American Songbook and her well-known hits. But don’t be surprised if some of her future music has more organic origins.
“I would to love get into country and blues and focus on it. It would be a lot of fun. I think that’s why I’ve been spending so much time listening to it.”
But there is another pressing issue to address as she tells someone away from the phone, “She has to go into a bedroom.” Then returns, “I’m sorry, doggie drama.”