What Was Nat King Cole's Net Worth?
Nat King Cole was an American singer and pianist who had a net worth equal to $27 million after adjusting for inflation at the time of his death in 1965. Technically, at the time of his death, Nat King Cole had a net worth of $3.5 million. Unfortunately, due to poor estate planning, after estate taxes and various other costs, his family (including 15-year-old daughter Natalie Cole) ended up receiving only $1 million (equal to $7 million in today's dollars) from his former net worth.
Nat King Cole's musical genres included vocal jazz, swing, and traditional pop. Thanks to "The Nat King Cole Show," he was one of the first African Americans to host a nationally televised show. During his career released 28 albums starting with his 1945 debut, "The King Cole Trio." Some of his more popular songs include "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", "The Christmas Song," "Nature Boy," "Mona Lisa," "Too Young," and "Unforgettable." Cole appeared in many films, including "Citizen Kane," "Kiss Me Deadly," "The Scarlet Hour," "St. Louis Blues," and more. His single "Unforgettable" won seven Grammy Awards, and Cole received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. In 2000, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nat King Cole passed away on February 15, 1965, at 45 years old from lung cancer.
Early Life
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama. He grew up with three brothers and one half-sister. When Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister. His mother, Perlina, worked as the church organist. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother and his first performance came at the age of four. When he was 12, he began to take formal piano lessons and learned jazz, gospel, and classical music. Nat attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School. He participated in Walter Dyett's music program at DuSable High School. Occasionally, he would sneak out of his house and visit clubs in Chicago, sitting outside to hear the likes of Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone.
Career
When he was 15, Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music. He formed a sextet with his brother Eddie and recorded two singles for Decca in 1936 as Eddie Cole's Swingsters. He toured with the musical "Shuffle Along" and ended up moving to Los Angeles to look for work. Nat began working as a piano player in nightclubs until a club owner asked him to form his own band. He did so, calling the band the King Cole Swingsters. They later changed their name to the King Cole Trio. In 1940, he recorded "Sweet Lorraine" and it became his first hit and also launched his singing career, as he had just been primarily an instrumentalist until then.
In 1941, the King Cole Trio recorded the track "That Ain't Right." The next year, they recorded "All for You" and then "I'm Lost." Nat appeared in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts in 1944. In 1946, the trio broadcast "King Cole Trio Time," a 15-minute radio program that was the first radio program hosted by black musicians.
In the mid-to-late-1940s, Cole began performing more pop-oriented material, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stardom grew as he recorded hit songs like "The Christmas Song," "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66," "(I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons," and "Too Young," among others.
His fame and popularity grew into the 1950s. By 1956, he had his own show on NBC called "The Nat King Cole Show," one of the first variety programs hosted by an African American. The program's 15-minute length was increased to 30 minutes in July 1957. However, the show suffered from a lack of sponsorship, which Cole attributed at least in part to racism.
Nevertheless, Nat continued to record hits that sold millions throughout the world, like "Smile," "Pretend, and "A Blossom Fell." In 1959, he won a Grammy Award for Best Performance By a Top 40 Artist for the track "Midnight Flyer." He also recorded three Spanish-language albums that were immensely popular in Latin America and the United States. Though musical tastes shifted in the 1960s, Cole remained popular. Some of his hits during the 1960s include "Ramblin' Rose," "Dear Lonely Hearts," and "That Sunday, That Summer." His final studio album, "L-O-V-E," was released in 1965 and peaked at #4 on the "Billboard" Albums chart.
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Personal Life
Around the time that Cole began his singing career, he entered into Freemasonry. He was raised in January 1944 in the Thomas Waller Lodge #49 in California. He joined the Scottish Rite Freemasonry and became the Master Mason.
Cole met his first wife, Nadine Robinson, while they were on tour for the all-black Broadway musical "Shuffle Along." They married when he was 18 years old. She was the main reason for his move to Los Angeles and the forming of the Nat King Trio. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1948. Six days after his divorce was finalized, he married singer Maria Hawkins in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist church. The couple had five children together: Natalie, Carole, Nat Kelly Cole, Casey, and Timolin. He was also romantically involved with a woman named Gunilla Hutton beginning in 1964, which caused tension with his wife. However, he broke off the relationship before his death and reconciled with his wife.
Throughout his early career, Cole dealt with numerous instances of racism. He became a lifetime member of the Detroit branch of the NAACP. Until his death, he remained an active and visible participant in the civil rights movement and participated in the March on Washington in 1963.
In September 1964, Cole began to lose weight and experienced back problems. After performing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, he collapsed in pain. He later sought medical help, and a malignant tumor in an advanced state of growth on his left lung was discovered. Nat carried on working and made his final recordings in early December 1964 before entering the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica. His condition worsened, and he died on February 15, 1965, at the age of 45. His funeral was held at St. James' Episcopal Church in Los Angeles and attended by 400 people, with thousands more waiting outside.
