Nat King Cole

My name is Nathaniel Adams Coles, but you probably know me as Nat "King" Cole, the famous jazz pianist and singer. I was considered one of the top voices in the business during my career which spanned nearly 3 decades, despite the fact that I was a direct contemporary of the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin, Davis Jr), as well as other great singers like Perry Como and Bobby Darin. Even today, I am still considered one of the best jazz musicians ever.The son of a minister, I showed interest in music at a very early age, and by age 12, I was an accomplished pianist. My first public recognition came by playing piano in nightclubs and eventually forming the famous Nat "King" Cole trio. Our first big hit was "Straighten Up and Fly Right", a song I wrote myself, but I sold the rights to the song in order to make a car payment!Sometime later, I became one of the first major names to sign with Capitol Records. I sold over 50,000,000 records with them, and the studio made so much money it became known as "The House that Nat Built"!I was the first black man to host his own radio show, and the first black man to host his own television show, as well. During my career, I starred in several movies, including "St Louis Blues" in which I played W.C. Handy. I also appeared in lots of other films, often just to make a cameo appearance or sing a song.In my day, I was quite the partier. In fact, my second wife and I were not on speaking terms the day of our wedding because I got too drunk at my bachelor party to remember to go to my wedding rehearsal!Unfortunately, my career was cut short in 1965, when I died of lung cancer.