From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1965

NAT KING COLE REMEMBERED

 

 

 

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EDITORIAL

LONG LIVE THE KING

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The King – Nat Cole – truly merited that title. As an all-around entertainer, as an across-the-board artist who appealed to all types of audiences, whether Top 40 or Good Music -he had no peers.

He was also a King in that he was the complete artist. His showmanship came through in all media -records, live performances, TV.

He was great, too, in that he could maintain his niche during an age when freak sounds and fads came to the fore. The public realized that his talent was grounded in musicianship; that his charm derived both from his profound knowledge of jazz and “the roots” and in his polished musical sophistication.

But perhaps the greatest thing about him – the element which really adds luster to his memory – is the fact that he was a gentleman in the true sense; that is, a gentle man.

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Billboard February 27, 1965

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LOS ANGELES — Some 400 friends and relatives of Nat King Cole attended funeral services at St. James Church here, Thursday, (18) in a final tribute to the artist who died of lung cancer Monday (15) at St. John’s Hospital, Santa Monica. Another 3,000 persons waited outside the Episcopal church.

A caravan of limousines brought such celebrities as Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Edie Adams, Gene Barry, Jose Ferrer, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Thomas, Vic Damone, Sammy Davis, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Frankie Laine and George Jessel to the church.

When the silver hearse pulled up to the church, pallbearers of the bronze coffin included James Conkling, former president of Warner Bros. Records; Glenn Wallichs, chairman of the board of Capitol Records; Harold Plant, the artist’s business manager, and Henry Miller, Cole’s business agent.

Jack Benny, who delivered the eulogy, called Cole “a great professional who gave so much and had so much to give.” He added: “Here I stand, a man granted so many years of life, good health, a measure of contentment, delivering a eulogy for a man whose span of life was so short. Nat Cole was an institution, a tremendous success as an entertainer, but an even greater success as a man, husband, father and friend.”

After the funeral services, the procession proceeded to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale for brief interment ceremonies.

Honorary pallbearers included Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jack Benny, Ricardo Montalban, George Burns, Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Peter Lawford, Edward G. Robinson, Gov. Edmund G. Brown of California, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York and Count Basie.

Cole leaves his widow, Mrs. Maria Cole; a son, Kelly, and four daughters, Timolin and Casey (twins), and Carol and Natalie. He also leaves two brothers, Edward and Fred, and a sister, Evelyn. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 27, 1965)

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