Early career at NBC studios, 1975 Cole grew up listening to a variety of music that included
Aretha Franklin and
Janis Joplin. After graduation in 1972 she began singing at small clubs with her band, Black Magic. Clubs initially welcomed her because she was Nat King Cole's daughter, only to be disappointed when she began singing cover versions of R&B and rock songs. With the assistance of
Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, a songwriting and producing duo, she recorded some songs in a studio in Chicago that was owned by
Curtis Mayfield. Her demo tapes led to a contract with
Capitol, resulting in the release of Cole's debut album,
Inseparable, which included songs that reminded listeners of
Aretha Franklin. Franklin later contended that songs such as "
This Will Be", "I Can't Say No", and others were offered to her while she was recording the album
You but she had turned them down. Released in 1975, the album became an instant success thanks to "This Will Be", which became a top ten hit and won her a
Grammy Award for
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. A second single, "
Inseparable", also became a hit. Both songs reached number-one on the R&B chart. Cole won
Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for her accomplishments, making her the first African-American artist to attain that feat. The media's billing of Cole as the "new Aretha Franklin" started a rivalry between the two singers. The feud boiled over at the
19th Annual Grammy Awards in 1977 when Cole beat Franklin in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category, a category which Franklin had won in the first eight years of the category. Contrary to popular belief, Franklin wasn't nominated for a Grammy for the
1976 ceremony, but Cole and Franklin were nominated in the following year where Cole's 1976 hit "
Sophisticated Lady (She's a Different Lady)" beat Franklin's "
Something He Can Feel" for that Grammy.
Stardom Becoming an instant star, Cole responded to critics who predicted a sophomore slump with
Natalie, released in 1976. The album, like
Inseparable, became a gold success thanks to the
funk-influenced cut "
Sophisticated Lady" and the
jazz-influenced "Mr. Melody". Cole released her first
platinum record with her third release,
Unpredictable, mainly thanks to the number-one R&B hit "
I've Got Love on My Mind". Originally an album track, the album's closer, "I'm Catching Hell", nonetheless became a popular Cole song during live concert shows. Later in 1977, Cole issued her fourth release and second platinum album,
Thankful, which included another signature Cole hit, "
Our Love". Cole was the first female artist to have two platinum albums in one year. To capitalize on her fame, Cole starred on her own TV special, which attracted such celebrities as
Earth, Wind & Fire, and appeared on the TV special, "Sinatra and Friends". In 1978, Cole released her first live album,
Natalie Live! In early 1979, the singer was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, she released two more albums,
I Love You So and the
Peabo Bryson duet album, ''
We're the Best of Friends''.
Detour and resurgence Following the release of her eighth album, 1980's ''
Don't Look Back'', Cole's career began to take a detour. While Cole scored an
adult contemporary hit with the
soft rock ballad "Someone That I Used to Love" off the album, the album itself failed to go gold. In 1981, Cole's personal problems, including battles with
drug addiction, began to attract public notice, and her career suffered as a result. In 1983, following the release of her album ''
I'm Ready'', released on
Epic, Cole entered a rehab facility in Connecticut and stayed there for six months. Following her release, she signed with the
Atco imprint
Modern Records and released
Dangerous, which started a slow resurgence for Cole in terms of record sales and chart success. In 1987, she changed to
EMI-Manhattan Records and released the album
Everlasting, which returned her to the top of the charts thanks to singles such as "Jump Start (My Heart)", the top ten ballad, "
I Live for Your Love", and her dance-pop cover of
Bruce Springsteen's "
Pink Cadillac". That success helped
Everlasting reach one million in sales and become Cole's first platinum album in ten years. In 1989, she released her follow-up to
Everlasting,
Good to Be Back, which produced the number seven hit "
Miss You Like Crazy", which became her biggest hit in the United Kingdom by reaching number two on the
UK Singles Chart. While the album failed to reach Gold certification in the US, it achieved international success by becoming her only top ten album in the UK, and later being certified Gold there. Cole released her bestselling album with 1991's
Unforgettable... with Love on
Elektra Records, which saw Cole singing songs her famous father recorded, nearly 20 years after she initially had refused to cover her father's songs during live concerts. Cole produced vocal arrangements for the songs, with piano accompaniment by her uncle
Ike Cole. Cole's label released an interactive duet between Cole and her father on the title song, "
Unforgettable". The song eventually reached number fourteen on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the
R&B chart, going gold.
Unforgettable...with Love eventually sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone and won several Grammys, including
Album of the Year,
Record of the Year and
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the top song. Alongside signing for new material with Elektra, she transferred rights of her EMI-Manhattan catalog. Cole followed that success with another album of jazz standards, titled
Take a Look, in 1993, which included her recording of the title track in the same styling that her idol Aretha Franklin had recorded nearly 30 years earlier. The album eventually went gold while a holiday album,
Holly & Ivy, also became gold. Another standards release,
Stardust, went platinum and featured another duet with her father on a modern version of "
When I Fall in Love", which helped Cole earn another Grammy for
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. In 1995, Cole was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the
Berklee College of Music. In 1999, Cole returned to her 1980s-era urban contemporary recording style with the release of
Snowfall on the Sahara on June and second Christmas album
The Magic of Christmas on October, which recorded with London Symphony Orchestra. A year later, the singer collaborated on the production of her biopic, ''Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story
with Theresa Randle playing Natalie Cole. She also released the compilation Greatest Hits, Vol. 1'' to fulfill her contract with Elektra. All albums she recorded for Elektra and EMI-Manhattan are no longer controlled by Warner Music Group; they were sold to
Concord Music Group and are available digitally via
Craft Recordings division. She changed to
Verve Records and released two albums.
Ask a Woman Who Knows (2002) continued her jazz aspirations, while
Leavin (2006) was an album of pop, rock, and R&B songs. Her version of "Daydreaming" by Aretha Franklin was a minor hit on the R&B chart. In 2008, seventeen years after
Unforgettable... with Love, she released
Still Unforgettable, which included songs made famous by her father and Frank Sinatra. In April 2012, she appeared on the
Pennington Great Performers with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. == Television and film career ==