Maria Cole ( Hawkins; August 1, 1922 – July 10, 2012) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer and the wife of singer

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

; mother of the singer

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

Early life

Cole was born in Boston and was the niece of

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Charlotte Hawkins Brown (June 11, 1883 – January 11, 1961) was an American author, educator, civil rights activist, and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina. Early life Charlotte Hawkins Brown was born in Hender ...

. Her father Mingo Hawkins was a letter carrier. Her mother Carol died while giving birth to her sister. 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

. 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 Tyringham is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 427 at the 2020 census. History Founded as Housatonic Township Number 1, the land which becam ...

, known as South House, where she raised her five children, including singer

. Maria was married to screenwriter

Gary DeVore Gary Martin DeVore (September 17, 1941 – June 28, 1997) was a Hollywood screenwriter, best known for witty action films and for his own bizarre death in 1997. Early career DeVore began his writing career in the late 1960s on shows like Chuck B ...

from 1969 until their divorce in 1978.

Career

She was a jazz singer who worked with

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

, under the name Marie Ellington. She met Nat "King" Cole while they were both singing at the Zanzibar club. She was co-host of a talk show, "Tempo," that aired on KHJ television in Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Death

Cole died in a nursing home in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

on July 10, 2012, at the age of 89, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.

Discography

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Maria 1922 births 2012 deaths African-American women singers American women jazz singers American jazz singers Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Deaths from cancer in Florida Count Basie Orchestra members Duke Ellington Orchestra members Musicians from Boston Nat King Cole Jazz musicians from Massachusetts