Natalie Cole had quite the musical pedigree--her father was the unforgettable (so to speak) Nat King Cole. Despite that, Natalie Cole originally was turned down by numerous labels for her initial effort, before Capitol Records saw what the others had missed. She started singing professionally at the age of six on one of her father's Christmas LPs and over the course of the next fifty some odd years released 23 albums, won 9 Grammy Awards, sold over 30 million records, had numerous gold and platinum releases, and had slightly more ups and downs than a seismograph chart (slight exaggeration). After a stunning start to her career, Cole battled drug addiction into the mid 80's and would see her career plummet right alongside her health. Though Cole cleaned up by the late 80's and had a major career resurrection (her album of her father's standards, Unforgettable...with Love, sold 7 million copies and won her six Grammys), her earlier drug addiction led to later complications that caused her to need a kidney transplant in 2009, and sadly, her death from congestive heart failure in 2015.
Not So Fun Fact: Despite her self-assuredness of an everlasting love, Cole was married three times with the marriages lasting 4,6, and 3 years respectively. Sometimes fame ain't all it's cracked up to be...
Released in April of 1975 on her Inseparable album, "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" would go on to reach #6 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Oddly enough, when the song was originally released it was simply called "This Will Be" but over time most references add the parenthetical aside.
This week's tune has a little bit of everything--it's got gospel elements, soul elements, jazz elements, and pop elements, with a bit of the Andrews Sisters thrown in (a la "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"). The song opens with a peppy piano, quickly adds in some buoyant horns (which are prominent throughout), and throws in another in a long line of emaycee song faves with plenty of hand claps. Cole's vocals pulsate with sheer joy and there's some nice overdubbing of same (which reminds me somewhat of the aforementioned Andrews Sisters), and close with a staccato like burst of back and forth on "this will be," "love," and "you and me" which always makes me smile. There's a lot of fun in "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)," but there's also an awful lot of musical genius that turn it into an unforgettable (so to speak) piece of musical magic.
Rap Sheet: "This will be/You and me/Yessir-ee/Eternally/Hugging and squeezing, and kissing and pleasing/Together forever through ever whatever..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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