Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Best Singing Voice Ever - Nat King Cole




I was flabbergasted when at a social setting some of my colleagues did not know who Nat King Cole was. I said he was my all time favourite singer and probably had the best singing voice ever. He died before I was even born but talent and greatness will be discovered and rediscovered by future generations. Many people will know of the song When I Fall In love, which has probably been re-recorded to death by various artistes, like I said before, if you are not going to be able to add something new to the song, forget it. The original version still is the best. There was no one who could do "phrasing" quite as splendidly as him, its clear, you never need lyrics sheet, and its almost like a lyrical musical poetic recitation.


He was born on March 17, 1917, Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.—died February 15, 1965, Santa Monica, California. His full name is Nathaniel Adams Cole. American musician hailed as one of the best and most influential pianists and small-group leaders of the swing era. Cole attained his greatest commercial success, however, as a vocalist specializing in warm ballads and light swing.
The other song that everybody loved during Christmas, yes The Christmas Song was also by Nat King Cole. But my favourite has to be Stardust, exceptional tune delivered as Nat King Cole only could. If you try to collect his albums like me, its a hazardous task, he has released so many, over 40 I believe. Plus he will try to sing in other languages as well, his Spanish was good, and I have included his brilliant rendition of Dahil Sayo when he performed in Manila, shocking and the sending the audience into wonderment, a truly magical moment, you can feel it even just listening to the audio version. The Japanese version of L.O.V.E. was cute as well.




















1 comment:

clk said...

There were a lot more greats from that era from people the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Louis Armstrong etc. who were pillars in the music world. These group had great influence on the Elvis, Beatles and the other contemporary music.

It's like people watching movies today having not heard of Kurosawa or Hitchcock..