King Cole: Last News

Industry Blackout At some point, every person who works in the music industry has to grapple with the fact that its not-all-that-distant past is rooted in racism and financial exploitation. Capitol Records is no exception. The 80 year-old label’s legacy of Black artists includes Nat King Cole, Tina Turner and George Clinton, but its roster has featured few others throughout its history, right up to the present.  In 2022, the label rolled out FN Meka, a digital rapper so offensive in pulling from the worst stereotypes of how appropriators view our culture, that it single-handedly set back the clock on equality.  The controversy was initially called out by Black music executives and notable figures in the hip-hop community and led our advocacy group, Industry Blackout, to issue a statement addressing the matter directly to Capitol Records. Variety itself reported that sources said the company was already in the process of terminating the deal — however, we take issue with that, as we believe it was our supporters and affiliates that sparked the conversation to begin with.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe family of legendary singer-songwriter Nat King Cole, one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20 th century, has entered into an agreement with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group to manage and expand his legacy to new generations, the company announced today.Details of the transaction were not disclosed, beyond the fact that it “encompasses a broad range of rights from Cole’s legendary career including his recorded music, publishing, television shows, and name and likeness.”In the decades before his 1965 death from lung cancer at the age of just 45, Cole scored more than 150 singles across Billboard’s pop, R&B, and country charts and has sold an estimated 50 million-plus records worldwide. While best known as a crooner, he was a formidable jazz musician as well, and is best known for classics like “The Very Thought of You,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “Unforgettable,” “Nature Boy,” “Stardust,” “When I Fall In Love,” “Mona Lisa,” “L-O-V-E,” and the holiday staple, “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).” As the announcement notes, Cole, who was born in Alabama in 1919, was subjected to all the barriers of the Jim Crow era, yet his success played no small role in advancing Black Americans’ presence in entertainment and public perception.