| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
viii, 437 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [401]-420) and index. |
| Contents |
Chicago -- The Kid--Chicago, 1935 -- Gatemouth -- Flight Out of Egypt -- Schoolboys -- Bud Billiken Days -- On the Town -- The Savoy Ballroom--September 8, 1935 -- Brothers -- Nadine -- Los Angeles -- Sunshine and Shadow -- The Trio -- A Year on the Road -- Fly Right -- Carlos, and Capitol Records -- The Big Money -- Changes -- Maria -- Engaged -- America -- Wedding bells -- Nature boy -- A home of their own -- The price of fame -- Bop City to Dixie -- Family -- The tax man -- The big show -- Together and apart -- Mobbed -- Home again -- This world and the next -- Television -- Sammy and Harry and the general -- Games and children -- The dawn of a new decade -- Jackpot attraction -- Love and death -- Epilogue. |
| Summary |
"When he died in 1965, at age forty-five, Nat King Cole was already a musical legend. As famous as Frank Sinatra, he had sold more records than anyone but Bing Crosby. Written with the narrative pacing of a novel, this biography traces Cole's rise to fame, from boy-wonder jazz genius to mega-star in a racist society. Daniel Mark Epstein brings Cole and his times to vivid life: his precocious entrance onto the vibrant jazz scene of his hometown, Chicago; the creation of his Trio and their rise to fame; the crossover success of such songs as "Straighten Up and Fly Right"; and his years as a pop singer and television star, the first African-American to have his own show. Epstein examines Cole's insistence on changing society through his art rather than political activism, the romantic love story of Cole and Maria Ellington, and Cole's famous and influential image of calm, poise, and elegance, which concealed the personal turmoil and anxiety that undermined his health."--Jacket. |
| Subject |
Cole, Nat King, 1919-1965.
|
|
Cole, Nat King, 1919-1965 (OCoLC)fst01757545
|
|
Singers -- United States -- Biography.
|
|
Singers. (OCoLC)fst01119301
|
|
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
| Genre/Form |
Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
|
| ISBN |
0374219125 alkaline paper |
|
