Jazz Blog

Nat “King” Cole was an American musician who had an undeniable impact on the jazz world of music. Nat “King” Cole trivia usually starts with the fact that even though he was born in Alabama, it would be Chicago where he would grow up, and in the incredible music scene that the city is so famous for that he would begin to learn his love for music and begin to make an impact on the world. An interesting Nat “King” Cole quiz point that you might not know is that even though he was most famous for his singing, he actually got into music as a piano player, and it was as a pianist that he would first garner attention as a professional musician.

An interesting piece of Nat “King” Cole trivia is that he arrived in Los Angeles entirely by accident, although it was there that his band would first start to make waves. He had been playing piano for a broadway touring show which flopped halfway through the run, while performing in Long Beach Cole decided that he would roll with the punches and decided to stay in the city and try to make his way as a musician. He moved from Long Beach to L.A. With the formation of the band the Nat King Cole trio comprised of Cole, Oscar Moore, and Wesley Prince.

Have you ever heard the expression “The House that Nat Built”? This is an interesting Nat “King” Cole quiz question, that refers to the first round office building to be constructed, which was the Capital Records building. Once he began recording with Capitol, Cole’s records sales were incredibly successful, providing them with the money that they needed to grow their small record company into a major player in the music business.

Another important piece of trivia about this great singers life is that he was the first African American to host a TV show like “The Nat King Cole Show” which featured popular artists of the time that Cole knew or whose work he was familiar with.

Cole would die young from lung cancer, and was noted by many as being a heavy smoker. He linked smoking with the quality of his voice and believed that he needed cigarettes in order for his voice to stay at the tone and quality that he was happy with.

By: Shawna S. Ruppert