Photo: U.S. Department of State · Public domain · credits

Tier 3 · vertical & regional

Freddy Cole

Person · male · United States · Chicago · born 1931 · died 2020 · recording since 1973

American jazz singer and pianist

jazz

official homepage official homepage streaming streaming tickets database database database database

Listen on Spotify YouTube Music

Also known as Freddie Cole · 佛瑞迪·高

Debut: 1973
Recording span: 46 years
Release groups: 25
Awards: 1
Timeline events: 26
Wiki language versions: 15

Compare this artist Read the biography Jump to timeline

Timeline

26 events▣ Album 22◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1✦ Award 1† Death 1

1930s
1. 15 October 1931 · Birth
  Born 1931-10-15
  source: wikidata
1970s
1. 1973 · Debut release
  Debut release: The Cole Nobody Knows
  First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
  source: musicbrainz
2. 1973 · Album
  Album: The Cole Nobody Knows
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 1975 · Album
  Album: Freddy Cole's Christmas Dreams
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 1978 · Album
  Album: One More Love Song
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
1990s
1. 4 December 1990 · Album
  Album: I'm Not My Brother I'm Me
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 1995 · Album
  Album: I Want a Smile for Christmas
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 1995 · Album
  Album: This Is the Life
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 1997 · Album
  Album: To the Ends of the Earth
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. 15 April 1998 · Album
  Album: Love Makes the Changes
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 1999 · Album
  Album: Le Grand Freddy
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2000s
1. 2000 · Album
  Album: Merry Go Round
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 2001 · Album
  Album: Rio De Janeiro Blue
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 25 March 2003 · Album
  Album: In the Name of Love
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 2004 · Album
  Album: Waiter, Ask the Man to Play the Blues
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. 2005 · Album
  Album: This Love of Mine
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 2006 · Album
  Album: Because of You - Freddy Cole Sings Tony Bennett
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
7. 2007 · Album
  Album: Music Maestro Please
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
8. 2007 · Award
  Honoured: Georgia Music Hall of Fame
  source: wikidata
2010s
1. 2010 · Album
  Album: Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 2011 · Album
  Album: Talk to Me
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 2013 · Album
  Album: This and That
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 2014 · Album
  Album: Singing the Blues
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. 2016 · Album
  Album: He Was the King
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 15 May 2018 · Album
  Album: My Mood Is You
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2020s
1. 27 June 2020 · Death
  Died 2020
  source: wikidata

Biography

English biography525 words · 4 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1379022968

Biography

Lionel Frederick Cole (October 15, 1931 – June 27, 2020) was an American jazz singer and pianist whose recording career spanned almost 70 years. He was the brother of musicians Nat King Cole, Eddie Cole, and Ike Cole, father of Lionel Cole, and uncle of Natalie Cole and Carole Cole.

Early life

Freddy Cole was born to Rev. Edward J. Coles and Perlina (née Adams) Coles, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. His brothers Nat "King" Cole (1919–1965), Eddie (1910–1970), and Ike (1927–2001) also each pursued careers in music. He began playing piano at the age of six, and continued his musical education at the Roosevelt Institute in Chicago. He moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music before completing a master's degree at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Career

Following the moderate success of "Whispering Grass" on OKeh Records in 1953 Cole spent several months on the road with Johnny Coles and Benny Golson as the Earl Bostic band. During the 1970s, Cole recorded several albums for European and English-based labels. He went on to work with Grover Washington, Jr. and to record jingles for various companies, including Turner Classic Movies He was the subject of the 2006 documentary, The Cole Nobody Knows. In June of that year, Cole was added to the Steinway Artist roster.
Cole was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In July 2009, he released a recording featuring his own quartet (guitarist Randy Napoleon, drummer Curtis Boyd, and bassist Elias Bailey), along with tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon and pianist John DiMartino, playing live at Dizzy's jazz club in Lincoln Center. His 2010 album, Freddy Cole Sings Mr. BFreddy Cole Sings Mr. B2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Tender Is the Night5:462Cottage for Sale4:203Portrait5:284I Apologize4:315Jelly Jelly5:176Somehow4:557To Be or Not to Be in Love3:118Pretty One6:149Ma, She's Makin' Eyes at Me4:1210The High and the Mighty4:3711No Orchids for My Lady6:0512Mister, You've Gone and Got the Blues6:03, was nominated for the Grammy in the category Best Jazz Vocal Album. The album features tenor Houston Person, pianist John DiMartino, guitarist/arranger Randy Napoleon, drummer Curtis Boyd, and bassist Elias Bailey. In 2010, his publicist Al Gomes scored Cole his first national TV appearance in years, performing live on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

His 2018 album, My Mood is YouMy Mood Is You15 May 2018 · Studio albumSpotify YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1My Mood Is You5:462Temptation4:533Almost in Love5:374I’ll Always Leave the Door a Little Open5:445First Began6:196They Didn’t Believe Me4:337My Heart Tells Me6:308The Lonely One5:119Love Like This Can’t Last4:1610Marie3:19 was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album; the album features Napoleon, Bailey, DiMartino as well as drummer Quentin Baxter and tenor Joel Frahm. Arrangements are by Napoleon and DiMartino.
Cole's influences included John Lewis, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson and Billy Eckstine. When speaking of Eckstine, Cole recalled: "He was a fantastic entertainer. I learned so much from just watching and being around him."
Guitarist Randy Napoleon, who played and recorded with Cole from 2007 until Cole's death, said: "Freddy just glides through life. He's got a lot of patience, warmth, a great sense of humor. The music is really inseparable from the person...One of the things that makes Freddy really great is his elegance and careful, judicious editing. He doesn't play a lot of notes on piano, but the ones he plays really do make the band feel great. They're melodic, it swings, and that's it. He doesn't feel you need a lot of extra, fancy stuff."

Death

Freddy Cole died on June 27, 2020, aged 88. He was remembered by notable jazz artists in an article in ArtsATL.

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.

Normalised profile metrics with percentile rank
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	15	72.5th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	25	88.9th
Studio albums	22	97th
Awards recorded	1	89th
Timeline events	26	95.9th
Recording span (years)	46	86.9th
Genres	6	91th

Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.

Discography (25 release groups · 22 studio albums)

Albums · 22

The Cole Nobody Knows
1973 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks
A1Correct Me If I’m Wrong
A2Moving On – Place in the Sun
A3Wild Is Love
A4A Man Shouldn’t Be Lonely
A5Brother Where Are You?
B1Miss Otis Regrets
B2Live for Life
B3He’ll Have to Go
B4Medley: I Keep Going Back to Joe’s / Waiter Ask the Man to Play the Blues
Freddy Cole's Christmas Dreams
1975 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 35:03
A1Jingles2:09
A2Christmas Dreams3:27
A3It's That Holiday Time Once Again3:42
A4A Jack Frost Snow and Merry Christmas Kiss2:14
A5Love and Merry Christmas3:00
A6All the Bessings of the Year3:29
B1Christmas Prayer2:56
B2Merry Christmas From a Snowman's Choir2:54
B3Old Days, Old Times and Old Friends2:43
B4Sleepy Christmas Doll2:35
B5Elvin Elf2:47
B6Our Sunday3:07
One More Love Song
1978 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 36:32
A1One More Love Song4:44
A2Now That I Know What Loneliness Is3:44
A3Isn't She Lovely3:39
A4Here Is Where Your Love Begins4:19
A5I Loved You3:25
B1Hello Like Before4:39
B2I Still Wanna Be With You2:41
B3That's The Way3:16
B4I Need You So2:50
B5Autumn Love3:15
I'm Not My Brother I'm Me
1990 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 15 tracks · 1:08:20
1Clown Town3:30
2Where Did Everyone Go? / How Did She Look6:42
3Home Fried Potatoes4:19
4Overjoyed4:02
5I Just Found Out About Love4:57
6Like a Quiet Storm6:14
7Brandy3:43
8Sunday, Monday, Always4:41
9More Than Likely4:39
10To Whom It May Concern3:35
11Funny (Not Much)3:45
12The Best Man2:54
13He Was the King2:56
14Nat Cole Medley10:04
15I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me2:19
I Want a Smile for Christmas
1995 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 53:00
1I Want a Smile for Christmas5:19
2Jingle Bells4:07
3White Christmas4:09
4Blue Christmas4:01
5A Cradle in Bethlehem7:07
6Jack Frost Snow4:52
7O Little Town of Bethlehem4:24
8The Christmas Song5:29
9Jingles, the Christmas Cat3:37
10Old Days Old Times Old Friends3:11
11Silent Night6:44
This Is the Life
1995 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 50:45
1Easy to Love7:01
2Somewhere Down the Line6:53
3A Place in the Sun (Movin' on)4:57
4Sunday Kind of Love6:40
5Sweet Beginnings4:42
6I Loved You for a Minute7:35
7When Love Is Looking Your Way5:04
8Don't Change Your Mind About Me4:34
9This Is the Life3:19
To the Ends of the Earth
1997 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 1:07:32
1To the Ends of the Earth5:24
2I Didn't Mean to Love You6:35
3In the Still of the Night5:19
4Candy5:41
5For All We Know5:21
6I'll Buy You a Star3:36
7You Don't Have to Say You're Sorry5:20
8One at a Time4:10
9Once You've Been in Love3:25
10Love Walked In4:54
11Medley: Two for the Road / Close Enough for Love6:15
12Should've Been7:20
13I'll Be Seeing You4:12
Love Makes the Changes
1998 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 55:38
1Love Makes the Changes5:35
2On My Way to You5:59
3Wonder Why5:32
4The Right to Love5:42
5Alone With My Thoughts of You6:20
6A Sinner Kissed an Angel4:36
7Brother, Where Are You?5:42
8Do You Know Why?4:01
9Just the Way You Are6:09
10Like a Quiet Storm6:02
Le Grand Freddy
1999 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 46:45
1I Will Wait for You4:43
2How Do You Keep the Music Playin?4:44
3I Will Say Goodbye3:38
4One at a Time3:29
5Once Upon a Summertime3:51
6The Windmills of Your Mind3:50
7Make the World Your Own3:23
8On My Way to You5:59
9Love Makes the Changes5:35
10Once You've Been in Love3:25
11You Must Believe in Spring4:08
Merry Go Round
2000 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 56:32
1Watching You, Watching Me6:48
2It's Impossible4:52
3Merry-Go-Round5:53
4I Remember You5:13
5Forgive My Heart4:09
6Through a Long and Sleepless Night4:16
7If You Went Away5:36
8Take a Little Time To Smile4:12
9I Realize Now / I Miss You So5:49
10Smoke Gets in Your Eyes4:12
11You're Sensational5:32
Rio De Janeiro Blue
2001 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 52:34
1Rio De Janeiro Blue4:29
2I Concentrate On You5:08
3Delirio4:14
4Invitation4:59
5Words Can't Describe5:29
6Wild Is Love3:30
7Yellow Days5:50
8Sem Voce3:03
9Something Happens To Me4:27
10There, I've Said It Again5:02
11To Say Goodbye6:23
In the Name of Love
2003 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 50:29
1Harbor Lights5:28
2Just to See Her Again4:09
3Have I Told You Lately That I Love You4:36
4In the Name of Love3:51
5Remember Me4:30
6I'm Not Alone (Anjo de Mim)5:05
7Save a Little Time for Me4:37
8When It Rains4:46
9Lady Love4:37
10I Can't Make You Love Me4:29
11I Love You4:21
Waiter, Ask the Man to Play the Blues
2004 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 32:38
1Waiter, Ask the Man to Play the Blues2:20
2Black Magic2:39
3Rain Is Such a Lonesome Sound2:38
4Bye Bye Baby2:42
5Just a Dream3:26
6Muddy Water Blues2:18
7Black Coffee2:43
8The Joke Is on Me2:32
9I Wonder2:47
10This Life I'm Living2:25
11Blues Before Sunrise3:45
12I'm All Alone2:23
This Love of Mine
2005 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 52:38
1What Now My Love?6:09
2I Was Wrong4:36
3Still4:40
4This Love of Mine6:54
5The Continental5:34
6But for Now3:52
7That Old Feeling4:25
8Out in the Cold Again6:16
9You and I4:29
10On the South Side of Chicago5:43
Because of You - Freddy Cole Sings Tony Bennett
2006 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 55:06
1Getting Some Fun Out of Life6:25
2Blame It on My Youth5:26
3Because of You4:33
4All for You (Nuages)4:59
5If I Ruled the World5:49
6What Are You Afraid Of?6:27
7You’re My Thrill4:21
8I Got Lost in Her Arms5:48
9The Gentle Rain6:10
10If We Never Meet Again5:08
Music Maestro Please
2007 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 51:06
1I'll Never Be The Same5:56
2My Ideal3:15
3Medley: Don't Take Your Love From Me / I Never Had A Chance: Don't Take Your Love From Me / I Never Had A Chance4:03
4Music, Maestro, Please!7:24
5If I Love Again4:17
6Why Did I Choose You?3:43
7Once In A While3:12
8You Leave Me Breathless5:18
9There Are Such Things4:44
10You Could Hear A Pin Drop3:27
11How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehn?5:47
Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B
2010 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:00:39
1Tender Is the Night5:46
2Cottage for Sale4:20
3Portrait5:28
4I Apologize4:31
5Jelly Jelly5:17
6Somehow4:55
7To Be or Not to Be in Love3:11
8Pretty One6:14
9Ma, She's Makin' Eyes at Me4:12
10The High and the Mighty4:37
11No Orchids for My Lady6:05
12Mister, You've Gone and Got the Blues6:03
Talk to Me
2011 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 48:20
1Mam'selle4:37
2Lovely Day5:27
3You Just Can't Smile It Away3:51
4I Was Telling Her About You4:51
5Can We Pretend?4:11
6Talk to Me4:13
7Speak to Me of You5:04
8My Imagination4:00
9My First Impression of You3:44
10Come Home4:12
11After All These Years4:10
This and That
2013 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:01:26
1I Saw Stars4:29
2You and Me Against the World5:22
3Everybody's Talkin'4:24
4Never, Never, Never3:45
5Medley: Where Are You? / It Was So Good While It Lasted8:36
6Who (Will take My Place)?6:40
7Nothin's Wrong With Nothin'4:15
8What Color Is Love?4:39
9Bang Bang Boogie4:37
10I Get Sentimental Over Nothing3:19
11Sometimes I'm Happy6:14
12For the Love of You5:06
Singing the Blues
2014 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 44:55
1Muddy Water Blues3:24
2This Time I'm Gone for Good4:59
3Another Way to Feel4:05
4Goin' Down Slow2:53
5Meet Me at No Special Place (And I'll Be There at No Particular Time)4:56
6All We Need Is a Place4:10
7My Mother Told Me3:47
8Singing the Blues3:51
9The Ballad of the Sad Young Men5:15
10Pretending3:37
11An Old Piano Plays the Blues3:58
He Was the King
2016 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 51:31
1Easy to Remember5:59
2Exactly Like You4:28
3Funny (Not Much)5:58
4That's My Girl3:01
5Maybe It's Because I Love You Too Much5:22
6The Best Man3:08
7Sweet Lorraine4:29
8Love Is the Thing5:16
9Jet4:04
10Mona Lisa2:26
11It's Only a Paper Moon3:58
12He Was the King3:22
My Mood Is You
2018 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 52:08
1My Mood Is You5:46
2Temptation4:53
3Almost in Love5:37
4I’ll Always Leave the Door a Little Open5:44
5First Began6:19
6They Didn’t Believe Me4:33
7My Heart Tells Me6:30
8The Lonely One5:11
9Love Like This Can’t Last4:16
10Marie3:19

Album · 2

Album release groups, by first release date
Cover	Year	Title	Notes	First release
	1993	Live at Birdland WestSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 12 tracks · 42:42 1My Hat's on the Side of My Head3:56 2I Almost Lost My Mind6:28 3Am I Blue4:59 4Pretend3:29 5Walkin' My Baby Back Home2:12 6This Heart of Mine5:04 7Send for Me3:24 8Somewhere Along the Way3:43 9Ballerina2:44 10I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me2:34 11He Was the King2:58 12Copacabana Ripple1:11	Live	1993
	2009	The Dreamer in Me: Live at Dizzy’s Club Coca‐Cola, Jazz at Lincoln CenterSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 11 tracks 1I Will Wait for You 2I Was Wrong 3Send for Me 4I'm Making Believe 5You're Sensational 6Where Can I Go Without You? 7More Than Likely 8You're Bringing Out the Dreamer in Me 9On the South Side of Chicago 10What Are You Afraid Of? 11What Now My Love?	Live	2009

Single · 1

Single release groups, by first release date
Cover	Year	Title	Notes	First release
	2019	Orange Colored SkySearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 1 track · 2:46 1Orange Colored Sky2:46		21 October 2019

Stats & PK

Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Freddy Cole head-to-head →

Freddy Cole metrics with percentile rank among published artists
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	15	72.5th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	25	88.9th
Studio albums	22	97th
Awards recorded	1	89th
Timeline events	26	95.9th
Recording span (years)	46	86.9th
Genres	6	91th

Awards & honours

Awards and honours, by year
Year	Award	Category	Result
2007	Georgia Music Hall of Fame		lifetime

Where this record comes from

portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freddy_Cole.jpg
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/fa657e12-4e01-4d2c-8cd2-62895c8d16a5
discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/fa657e12-4e01-4d2c-8cd2-62895c8d16a5
core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q180408
genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q180408
seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Cole
biography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Cole

Why this artist is in the database

List of disco artists

United States · Group

jazz

1 shared genre tag · debut 1972, 1 year apart · from United States

7 wikis

Timeline

1930s

Born 1931-10-15

1970s

Debut release: The Cole Nobody Knows

Album: The Cole Nobody Knows

Album: Freddy Cole's Christmas Dreams

Album: One More Love Song

1990s

Album: I'm Not My Brother I'm Me

Album: I Want a Smile for Christmas

Album: This Is the Life

Album: To the Ends of the Earth

Album: Love Makes the Changes

Album: Le Grand Freddy

2000s

Album: Merry Go Round

Album: Rio De Janeiro Blue

Album: In the Name of Love

Album: Waiter, Ask the Man to Play the Blues

Album: This Love of Mine

Album: Because of You - Freddy Cole Sings Tony Bennett

Album: Music Maestro Please

Honoured: Georgia Music Hall of Fame

2010s

Album: Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B

Album: Talk to Me

Album: This and That

Album: Singing the Blues

Album: He Was the King

Album: My Mood Is You

2020s

Died 2020

Biography

Biography

Early life

Career

Death

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Discography (25 release groups · 22 studio albums)

Albums · 22

Album · 2

Single · 1

Stats & PK

Awards & honours

Where this record comes from

Why this artist is in the database

Similar artists

Lamont Dozier

Phyllis Hyman

Patti Austin

Dickey Betts

Charlie Haden

Gil Scott-Heron

Jessye Norman

The J.B.'s