2000
1/25
Magic Bowl 2000. Earvin
"Magic" Johnson party features music by Najee
and Eric Benet, beautiful celebrities --- Natalie Cole, Vivica
Fox and Holly Robinson-Peete --- and dancing. Plus,
it's for a good cause --- the
1/27
PARTY GIRLS: The songwriter and the singer, soul sisters Denise Rich and
Natalie Cole, will celebrate their birthdays
Saturday (but who's counting?) at Centro-Fly in
2/1
InStyle
natalie cole
In Natalie Cole's fantasy life, she would prance
around town in
"just some sexy pumps and with a great little
handbag," she
jokes. "They say less is more!" But in the real world,
the
singer's twin closets off the bedroom hold enough dresses to
impress till the next Ice Age. Sixty-seven pairs of sunglasses
(in their proper cases) crowd two wide dresser drawers; handbags
are artfully arranged on a trio of shelves--two rhinestone
Judith Leiber purses glitter like
trophies. Cole may not be
compulsive about the organization--sexy evening dresses rub
shoulders with leopard-print tops and casual trousers--but she
insists, "I know exactly where everything is. Everything!" To
alleviate clutter, Cole regularly gives friends any clothes she
hasn't worn in more than a year. Three more closets elsewhere in
her
lode of Versace, Pamela Dennis and Marc Bouwer
gowns I wear
onstage in storage because they're insured," Cole says.
"Maybe I
should add another wing."
3/6/99
Natalie Cole belted lead vocals with such sass
and grit that someone should
sign her to a hard-core rock album immediately. Clapton, Robbie
Robertson
(formerly of the Band) and Raitt took
turns at lead guitar. Clapton's fretwork
was all fireworks, Robertson's was soulful and Raitt shimmered on slide. Earth,
Wind & Fire kept the rhythm percolating with syncopated
percussion and brassy
horns.
The best one-liner went to Cole, who accepted an award on behalf
of her
father, the late jazz-pop crooner Nat King Cole, in the early
influence
category. Asked backstage how her dad would have responded to
the honor, she
gasped: "He'd die! That was so not him!"
The post-midnight jam at the Rock and Roll Hame
of Fame Awards on Monday was a starry affair - and will no doubt be highlighted
when VH1 broadcasts an edited version of the show tonight at 9. Natalie Cole kicked it off by
belting out "Route 66," backed by Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, Robbie Robertson, members of
Earth, Wind & Fire, and John Sebastian of Lovin'
Spoonful. Then James Taylor marched out for a piquant "How Sweet It
Is," backed by most of the same ensemble. The four-song, 30-minute jam
peaked with "Love and Happiness" and blues standard "Sweet Home
Chicago." Paul McCartney, who had inducted
SINGER NATALIE COLE ARRIVES AT WOMEN OF COURAGE AWARDS
WOMEN OF COURAGE AWARDS:
4/10
Natalie Cole is working on an autobiography, which is due out
from Warner Books, along with a Best of Natalie Cole CD, in
November. The bio's title, Angel on My Shoulder, alludes to the
bad things that Cole has survived in her life, including a long
stint of drug abuse and a fire at the Las Vegas Hilton that
killed eight people. "God just plucked me out of situations
where I should have ended up dead or behind bars," says the
singer. Others in her family weren't so lucky. Her father, Nat
King Cole, died of lung cancer, her brother died of AIDS, and
her first husband died of a heart attack. "The saddest
thing
about the book," she says, "is that so many of the people
I
write about are no longer here." One challenge Cole faces
is how
to deal with the divorce from her second husband, music producer
Andre Fischer: "There's a confidentiality agreement so I
can't
talk about what a [jerk] I think he was."
NATALIE COLE COMES BACK INTO HER OWN; Steve Morse, Globe Staff
The Boston Globe 06-20-2000
NATALIE COLE COMES BACK INTO HER OWN
Byline: Steve Morse, Globe Staff
Edition: THIRD
Section: Arts
Type: LIV
Natalie Cole won glory - and Grammy awards - for reprising jazz- pop standards
from the 1940s and 1950s heyday of her father, Nat King Cole. For the past
seven years, and through countless orchestral concerts, Natalie has stayed
faithful to that formula, but now it's time for a change, as she rediscovers
her love of R&B.
"The audience that has stayed with me my whole career likes
to see me come up with different things," says Cole. "And if they
enjoy variety, then the more the merrier."
Her latest tour, which stops at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium
on Thursday, celebrates her 25th anniversary in show business and returns to
the grittier pop and R&B for which she had been known, including a hit
version of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac."
No longer does she pack her set with standards, which had been
her routine in the 1990s. She is down to just 20 minutes of standards from
"Unforgettable," her Grammy-winning album. "Frankly, I'm bored
with some of that at this point," she says.
"The emphasis is on my music this time," says Cole,
50, who has a big year ahead. In November, she releases a "Greatest
Hits" album. That same month her autobiography, "Angel on My
Shoulder," will be published and NBC-TV will produce a bio-pic based on the book. In the film, she'll play herself as
an adult.
"There will be such a blitz that month that people will
say, `Oh, I am so sick of seeing her!' " Cole
says with a laugh.
Musically, she's feeling rejuvenated. "I didn't do my pop
and R&B stuff for 15 years for nothing. I'm really enjoying it again - it's fun to do `Pink Cadillac' - and I'm doing some new
songs, too, which I'm excited about. Some nights I can't wait to get through
the `Unforgettable' stuff to get on to other things."
One new song, which will be among up to three fresh tracks added
to the "Greatest Hits" album, is "Livin'
for Love," which Cole describes as "a big, phat
dance tune." She cowrote it with Denise Rich,
who wrote Mary J. Blige's duet with Aretha Franklin,
"Don't Waste Your Time."
Cole figures the time is right for a change because so many of
her peers have done their own albums of standards, taking away some of the
luster from the genre. Carly Simon, Phil Collins, and
Joni Mitchell are just a few artists who have done so. Cole has heard them all
- and she especially likes Mitchell's &quoot;Both Sides Now."
"I like it because Joni's voice is so different," says
Cole. "She's not trying to sound like Ella [Fitzgerald], and she's also a
great arranger and picks great tunes.
"It's nice, really, to see my contemporaries do that,
instead of turning to do hip-hop or something else that might not suit
them," she adds. "But doing some of the old standards is not for
everybody. When Tony Bennett or Sarah Vaughan would bring a song to you, they
knew what they were singing about, and the audience knew they knew. But as a contemporary
artist, you have to be careful that the love of the music is equal to your
ability to present it. That's not always the case."
As for the autobiography she's writing - in collaboration with Digby Diehl, who helped on Esther Williams's autobiography
- Cole is reluctant to give away any juicyy details. All she'll say is,
"Writing the book was hard. It was an experience I wouldn't put on my
worst enemy. But I wrote it as honestly as I could and it ended up being quite
therapeutic. I've had a lot of great memories, but there are some unpleasant
ones in there as well. You'll have to read it to see."
Illustrations/Photos:
Caption: Natalie Cole says setting aside R & B music for
years has
rejuvenated it for her. / PHOTO/DAVID JENSEN
(Copyright 2000)
6/22
PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT
How Denver comic Darryl Collier was stiffed by want-to-be diva Natalie Cole at her Father's Day Concert at the Paramount Theatre. Collier was
asked to open the show but when he got there, he was told Cole didn't want an
opening act. About 30 family members and friends came to see him. The Cole
group paid him off in tickets.
6/24
NATALIE COLE IS ALL CLASS; ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic
Hartford Courant 06-24-2000
NATALIE COLE IS ALL CLASS
Byline: ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic
Edition: 6/7 SPORTS FINAL
Section: TOWN NEWS
Type: REVIEW
It's not easy for children of beloved stars to step out from the
shadows of their famous parents, but Natalie Cole has managed to
sustain a long and interesting career that seems in no danger of slowing down.
In her strong concert Friday at the Mohegan Sun casino's new Uncas Pavilion, Cole, 50, covered a lot of ground in a
variety of styles winningly, lingering in one style before moving to the next.
It began with plenty of zing, in snappy arrangements of
standards with a jazzy ring. Songs like "Let's Face the Music and
Dance" and "Two for the Blues" jumped, and Cole, in her
shimmering silver dress, sang with authority and cool, her occasional scatting
evoking great singers of the past.
When she finally sat, six songs in, to bring a softer, more
romantic approach, she really settled in for a veritable history of American
standards, punctuated with brief commentary that showed her unique take on
them.
"Our Love Is Here to Stay," she described as "my
mom and dad's love song," and "Smile" as "a song given to
my dad written by the late great Charlie Chaplin."
After a handful of such songs, she rose for her most rewarding
hit, the uncanny duet with her father, Nat "King" Cole, who died in
1965. In 1991, lending her voice to his 40 year old vocals on
"Unforgettable" earned her Grammys and a
spiritual reunion with her father that thrilled audiences. Live, it's still a
stunner, especially as the daughter links up not only to her father's track,
but to his image, which appears on a videotape. Looking down on her from the
video screen, his smile seemed to signal approval for her career turn.
Cole paused only briefly to sing from her most recent album
"Snow on the
The temporary, 5,000-seat Pavilion proved an odd place to see a
show. Essentially a giant tent, you could hear motorcycles rumbling outside
during quieter numbers. The air conditioning seemed to be working, and the
sound was OK, but there were some declasse touches,
from portable outhouses to row numbers scrawled on the former parking lot
asphalt that served as a floor.
Cole's performance did a lot to add class to the place.
(Copyright @ The