Maria ellington biography
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Nat King Cole's widow, Maria, dies at 89
Maria Cole, widow of Nat King Cole and mother to singer Natalie Cole, has died in Florida aged
A family spokesperson said she died at a Boca Raton ett hem eller vårdinrättning för terminalt sjuka patienter after suffering from cancer.
Before and after marrying Nat in , Maria Cole had her own singing career, performing with greats such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
After her husband died in , also from cancer, she created the Cole Cancer Foundation.
Born in Boston in , Maria moved to North Carolina as child after her mother died. She later moved to New York to pursue a music career.
Duke Ellington heard recordings of her singing and hired her as a vocalist with his orchestra.
She stayed with him until when she went solo at the city's Club Zanzibar as an opening act for the Mills Brothers.
It was there she met her future husband, and she continued to travel and perform with Nat throughout the s.
Her children, Natalie, Timolin and Casey Cole, said in a joint statem
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Maria Cole
American jazz singer (–)
Musical artist
Maria Cole[1] (néeHawkins; August 1, – July 10, ) was an American jazz singer and the wife of singer Nat King Cole; mother of the singer Natalie Cole.[2][3]
Early life
[edit]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 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, (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 (–), who had a successful career as a singer; an adopted daughter, Carole (–, the daughter of Maria's sister), who died of lung cancer at the age of
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