Fact-Check: Did Nat King Cole Leave His First Wife for Maria Hawkins?
By Sarah Jenkins
Nathaniel Adams Coles was just 17 when he joined the touring revival of Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle’s landmark Black musical comedy, Shuffle Along, in 1936. Working as an ensemble pianist alongside his older brother Eddie, Cole spent months on the road playing grueling one-nighters. Among the ensemble's featured performers was Nadine Robinson, an experienced stage dancer known for her poise and work ethic. Robinson was several years older than Cole, street-smart, and intimately familiar with the grueling economics of Black vaudeville.
When the road tour abruptly collapsed in Los Angeles in 1937, stranding dozens of performers without pay or train fare, Cole and Robinson stayed behind. With barely enough money between them to rent a modest apartment in South Central Los Angeles, the two wed in January 1937. It was an early jazz marriage forged in survival. Robinson took work where she could find it, encouraging Cole as he dropped the final "s" from his surname and began booking small club dates across Central Avenue.
Those early years required relentless grit. Robinson managed domestic affairs and helped keep the young musician organized while he formed a three-piece rhythm unit featuring guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince. That unit soon became the King Cole Trio, laying the sonic groundwork for an entirely new chapter in American popular music.
Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.
