Nat King Cole lived both a fruitful life, but one that was also marred with adversity and succeeded by tragedy.
The legendary "Unforgettable" singer was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama, before moving to Chicago, Illinois when he was four years old. His father Edward Coles was a Baptist minister, and he first trained in music thanks to his mother, Perlina Coles (née Adams), the church organist, who taught him to play the organ.
He dropped out of high school when he was 15 to pursue a career in music, and in 1938, when performing as part of the Nat King Cole Trio, he was discovered by fellow music legend Bing Crosby, thus beginning an unforgettable jazz career.
© Getty ImagesSuccessful as his career was, racist incidents were seemingly inescapable at the time, including violent attacks, such as an apparent kidnapping attempt during a 1956 concert in Alabama.
Following his death in February 1965 aged 45 after a battle with lung cancer, more tragedy followed, with three of his five children also ultimately suffering early deaths from devastating illnesses. Read about them below.
© Getty ImagesCole's marriages
Cole was first married when he was 18 years old, in 1937, to Nadine Robinson, who he met while they were on tour for the all-black Broadway musical Shuffle Along. They lived in Los Angeles, and divorced in 1948.
Six days after his divorce was finalized, Cole married Maria Hawkins, the niece of the civil rights activist Charlotte Hawkins Brown, and also a successful singer. She passed away aged 89 in 2012.
Maria was the mother of Cole's five children, two of whom were adopted and preceded her in death.
© Getty ImagesCole's children
Cole and his second wife first welcomed daughter Natalie in 1950, who also became a singer, best known for her iconic 1975 song "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)." She won nine Grammy Awards.
Natalie was married three times; to Marvin Yancy from 1976 to 1980, Andre Fisher from 1989 to 1995, and Kenneth Dupree from 2001 to 2004. She had a lengthy, difficult struggle with substance abuse most of her life, and in 2008, announced she had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, and subsequently went into liver failure, undergoing a transplant the following year. She died on New Year's Eve in 2015, from congestive heart failure.
© Getty ImagesCole and Maria were also parents to two adopted children, Carole, born in 1944 to Maria's sister, and son Nat Kelly, born in 1959. Carole, who was also a singer, died of lung cancer at the age of 64 in 2009, and Nat Jr., an actor, died of AIDS at the age of 36 in 1995.
The Cole family is survived by Cole and Maria's twin daughters Casey and Timolin, who were born in 1961. In 2008, they founded the Nat King Cole Generation Hope, which provides access to music education for children with the greatest need by cultivating opportunities and funding year-round programs for instruction, mentoring and resources.
