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Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over songs that became hits on the pop charts. Cole started his career as a jazz pianist in the late s, when he formed the King Cole Trio, which became the top-selling group and the only black act on Capitol Records in the s.

Cole's trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Starting in , he transitioned to become a solo singer billed as Nat King Cole.

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Despite achieving mainstream success, Cole faced intense racial discrimination during his career. While not a major vocal public figure in the civil rights movement , Cole was a member of his local NAACP branch and participated in the March on Washington. He regularly performed for civil rights organizations. His Christmas album The Magic of Christmas also known as The Christmas Song , is the best-selling Christmas album released in the s; and was ranked as one of the 40 essential Christmas albums by Rolling Stone.

Cole was the father of singer Natalie Cole — , who covered her father's songs in the album Unforgettable Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. We Have No Bananas " at the age of four. Cole and his family moved to the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, [ 15 ] where Cole attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School , [ 16 ] the school Sam Cooke attended a few years later.

When he was 15, Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. After his brother Eddie, a bassist, came home from touring with Noble Sissle , they formed a sextet and recorded two singles for Decca in as Eddie Cole's Swingsters. They performed in a revival of the musical Shuffle Along.