Carolina POPS: Monday December 31, 2007

Freddy Cole - vocalist

Lionel Frederick Cole is the youngest of Edward and Paulina Nancy Cole’s five children. In the Chicago home of his youth, visitors included Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. He also credits Billy Eckstine as a major influence. Freddy moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music. He got a Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music and then spent several months on the road as a member of an Earl Bostic band. Back in New York, Freddy successfully laid the groundwork for a career that continues to flourish to this day. A resident of Atlanta since 1972, he currently leads a group made up of himself, guitarist Jerry Byrd, drummer Curtis Boyd and bassist Zachery Pride that regularly tours the U.S., Europe, the Far East and South America. Cole believes that becoming an international favorite made him "widen my scope a little bit. It made me much more of a performer." Cole doesn’t apologize for sounding like his brother, Nat "King" Cole, but, in truth, his phrasing is far closer to that of Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday than that of his brother and his timing swings a little more. Cole’s career continues to ascend as he’s moved into the front ranks of America’s homegrown art form with a style and musical sophistication all his own.