Around the age of 18, he pulled together a small jazz band in Los Angeles and was well-regarded within the city’s music community. When Cole began singing, though, he became a star – and one of the most in-demand musicians of the 1950s. He was also the first Black performer to host a U.S. radio show, King Cole Trio Time and the first to host a television program The Nat 'King' Cole Show on NBC.

An undated and uncredited b/w photo of Nat King Cole Image source: PBS | American Masters

“Like a song of love that clings to me
How the thought of you does things to me.”
-American jazz pianist Nat King Cole, born on this day in 1919

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