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Maria Cole

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Maria Cole
Cole with her husband Nat, 1951
Cole with her husband Nat, 1951
Background information
Birth nameMaria Antoinette Hawkins
Born(1922-08-01)August 1, 1922
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJuly 10, 2012(2012-07-10) (aged 89)
Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.
GenresJazz
OccupationsSinger
Years active1936–1955
LabelsCapitol
Spouse(s)Spurgeon Ellington
Nat King Cole
Gary DeVore
Children: 5, including Natalie Cole

Maria Cole[1] (née Hawkins; August 1, 1922 – July 10, 2012) was an American jazz singer and the wife of singer Nat King Cole; mother of the singer Natalie Cole.[2][3]

Early life

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Cole was born in Boston and was the niece of Charlotte Hawkins Brown.[4][5] Her father Mingo Hawkins was a letter carrier. Her mother Carol died while giving birth to her sister.[6][7][8]

In 1943 she married Spurgeon Ellington, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black unit of the Army Air Corps in World War II. He died during a training flight.

On March 28, 1948 (Easter Sunday), Maria married Nat King Cole. The Coles were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. They had five children: Natalie (1950–2015), who had a successful career as a singer; an adopted daughter, Carole (1944–2009, the daughter of Maria's sister), who died of lung cancer at the age of 64; an adopted son, Nat Kelly Cole (1959–1995), who died at the age of 36; and twin daughters, Casey and Timolin (born September 26, 1961), whose birth was announced in the "Milestones" column of Time magazine on October 6, 1961.

Maria supported Nat during his final illness and stayed with him until his death. Five years after the death of Nat King Cole, Maria Cole bought a house in Tyringham, Massachusetts, known as South House, where she raised her five children, including singer Natalie Cole.[9]

Maria was married to screenwriter Gary DeVore from 1969 until their divorce in 1978.

Career

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She was a jazz singer who worked with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, under the name Marie Ellington. She met Nat "King" Cole while they were both singing at the Zanzibar club.[2][3]

She was co-host of a talk show, "Tempo," that aired on KHJ television in Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Death

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Cole died in a nursing home in Boca Raton, Florida on July 10, 2012, at the age of 89, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.[2]

Discography

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  • A Girl They Call Maria (Kapp, 1954)
  • Maria Cole (Dot, 1960)
  • Love Is a Special Feeling (Capitol, 1966)

References

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  1. ^ "Nat "King" Cole's Widow Maria Cole Visits Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum". Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Associated Press (July 11, 2012). "Widow of Nat 'King' Cole dies of cancer at 89". Yahoo! News. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Gene Lees, Nat Hentoff (2004). You Can't Steal a Gift: Dizzy, Clark, Milt, and Nat. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 227–35.
  4. ^ "Nat "King" Cole's Widow Maria Cole Visits Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum". North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. June 11, 2008. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  5. ^ Henry Louis Gates, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (2004). African American Lives. Oxford University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-19-516024-6.
  6. ^ Notable Black American Women. VNR AG. 1992. p. 115. ISBN 9780810347496. Retrieved July 13, 2012 – via Internet Archive. Maria Hawkins Ellington Boston.
  7. ^ "Nat "King" Cole's Widow Maria Cole Visits Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum". News.ncdcr.gov. February 25, 1965. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  8. ^ Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. One World Ballantine Books. 2005. p. 327. ISBN 9780345454188. Retrieved July 13, 2012 – via Internet Archive. Caro MINGO HAWKINS COLE.
  9. ^ Rozhon, Tracie (July 24, 1994). "Habitats/Echoes of Nat (King) Cole; A Berkshire Estate with a Special Beat". The New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
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