in the city Doubters in the audience - who gossiped that she had no business on such a stage - did not intimidate her. “I overheard a friend’s friend say, ‘Natalie Cole’s gonna be singing with the Allman Brothers?’” she says, imitating the man’s dismissive tone. “But at the end he was like, ‘Oh man. I did not know she liked rock n’ roll.’” She seems game for any kind of acting role as well. On a memorable episode of Grey’s Anatomy she played Sylvia Booker, a woman whose brain aneurysm reinvigorates her dying marriage – but also lands her with a salad fork in her neck after a public sex romp with her husband. “Grey’s - that was a very funny script,” she says, laughing. “I loved it. I love being a different character, which is sort of what you do when you’re singing. You transport yourself. I’d love to do more. It’s just hard to fit it in. Next time I step out I am hoping it will be in film.” Cole, who has sold more than 30 million albums, is currently back in the recording studio (with famed producer David Foster), preparing a new album while continuing a rigorous touring schedule. But she isn’t complaining about the schedule. “My immune system is still very compromised. I’ll be on meds for the rest of my life. You’re vulnerable, but what can you do? You gotta just suck it up. When you have health issues, you have to find an attitude. You have to find a mantra that you tell yourself every day. It’s s kinda like fake it till you make it.” ●
Summer Strings Camp at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Pavilion at Lynn University in Boca Raton.
About Nat King Cole Generation Hope, Inc.
Tickets are $75, $150 and $350. For information on volunteering, making a donation or buying tickets to the March 1 fundraiser, visit www. natkingcolefoundation.org or call 561-237-9000. —Deborah Wilker
30
inthecity-2.indd 30
PHOTO: MATTHEW ROLSTON
Since its inception five years ago, Nat King Cole Generation Hope, Foundation Directors Inc. has brought music and music Timolin and Casey Cole education into the lives of more than 6,000 Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County school children. The Boca Raton-based organization, which places musical instruments in disadvantaged schools and hosts music camps during summer and holiday breaks, was created by Boca Raton residents Timolin and Casey Cole, the twin daughters of vocal legend Nat King Cole. Upset by budget cuts in local schools that kept chipping away at arts programs, the sisters decided it was their obligation to do something. “Having been blessed with this legacy, we feel it is our duty,” Timolin says. “Music is such a fundamental part of human development. Not to mention what it does for children academically,” she adds, citing d studies of improved math and science scores for stu students who play musical instruments. stu “You can’t really have a well-rounded education without music,” Casey says. All of ed the t Cole siblings, including Natalie and an older brother and sister now deceased, attended elite b schools, colleges and universities. “Mom was a s stickler,” Timolin says. The charity buys musical instruments at cost from retailers such as Sam Ash and the Music Man stores in West Palm Beach. They also receive donations of used instruments from musicians, then coordinate with county arts administrators to get them to schools most in need. “Yes, we physically bring them there,” Casey says. “We’re hands on. We feel like Santa on Christmas morning.” Though the organization operates with a limited staff and small budget, it has grown each year with plans to expand nationally. Also on the horizon, a “Nat and Maria Cole Scholarship,” named for Nat King Cole and his wife, Maria. “Our mother was an entertainer in her own right,” Timolin says. “She sang with Duke Ellington and supported multiple causes throughout her life.” The charity’s flagship event – a concert starring Natalie Cole at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca Raton on March 1 – will also feature performances by local school children, including those who participated in the Generation Hope Summer Strings Camp. “We want people to see our young students,” Casey says.
cityandshore.com
1/24/13 6:35 PM