Nature Boy: History and Key Facts

"Nature Boy" is a song first recorded by American jazz singer Nat King Cole. It was released on March 29, 1948, as a single by Capitol Records, and later appeared on the 1961 album The Nat King Cole Story. It was written by eden ahbez as a tribute to Bill Pester, who practiced the Naturmensch and Lebensreform philosophies adopted by Ahbez. The lyrics of the song relate to a 1940s Los Angeles–based group called "Nature Boys", a subculture of proto-hippies of which Ahbez was a member.

"Nature Boy" was released during the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) ban of 1948. It reached the top of the Billboard music charts and sold over a million copies, helping to establish Cole's solo career, and introducing him to the white music market. "Nature Boy" was the subject of lawsuits, with Yiddish composer Herman Yablokoff claiming that it was plagiarized from his song "Shvayg mayn harts" (שװײג מײן האַרץ, "Be Still My Heart"). Eventually, Ahbez and Yablokoff settled out of court. In 1999, the song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Following Cole's success, rival record companies released cover versions of "Nature Boy" by other artists including Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan, which were also successful. It ultimately became a pop and jazz standard, with many artists interpreting the song, including Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, who recorded it for their collaborative album Cheek to Cheek (2014). It was also used in numerous films like The Boy with Green Hair (1948) Untamed Heart (1993), which uses Nat King Cole version and Roger William's piano version, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), the 2001 musical Moulin Rouge!, for which singer David Bowie recorded a version, and in the television series Resident Alien.

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