Nat Cole, a dozen years Freddy’s senior, was a towering jukebox star of jazz and popular music who sold more than 50 million records before his death from lung cancer in 1965 at age 45. ADBy contrast, Freddy Cole — whose vocal texture was eerily similar to his brother’s — spent decades in relative obscurity, playing in lounges, hotels and nightclubs with an understated languid charm. Freddy Cole recalled Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton among the bandleaders who stopped by the home to visit as Nat became a national hitmaker. “I can’t say I didn’t receive some accolades about having a famous brother,” he told music magazine DownBeat. I couldn’t even make a fist with the injured hand, but I had enough movement to play the piano.

Source: Washington Post June 28, 2020 13:42 UTC