The story of Cole’s life is a study in success in the face of adversity and the triumph of talent over the ignorance of prejudice. He broke through major racial barriers in the entertainment industry as the first black American to have his own national radio show and the first black American to have his own television show.
Nat King Cole
Nat Cole's "unforgettable" voice, with its honeyed velvet tones in a rich, easy drawl, is one of the great moments in music, and saw him accepted in a "white" world. With high profile friends, such as Frank Sinatra, his position entailed compromises that gained him the hostility of civil rights activists in the early 1960s. But Cole was a brave figure in a period when racial prejudice was at its most demeaning. Before his death from lung cancer in 1965, Cole was planning a production of James Baldwin's play, "Amen Corner," displaying an interest in radical black literature at odds with his image as a sugary balladeer.
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