1956 Nat King Cole assault

The 1956 Nat King Cole assault was a violent attack on vocalist Nat King Cole which took place on stage during an April 10, 1956 performance at Municipal Auditorium.

Cole was touring along with fellow smooth-jazz artists June Christy and the Four Freshmen, accompanied by the London-based Ted Heath Orchestra.

Due to Birmingham's segregation laws, Cole was set to perform twice that evening; an early set for a white audience and a later show in front of a black audience. At the start of the early set, Mayor Jimmy Morgan took the state to welcome the popular singer, who was greeted with joyful cheers from the youthful white audience.

Cole and the all-white Ted Heath Orchestra were in the midst of performing their third song when three members of Asa Carter's Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy, rushed the stage, tackling the singer. The assailants were identified as Kenneth Adams, E. L. Vinson & Willis Vinson.

Cole returned to the stage to thank the audience for their support, but did not complete the performance so that he could be checked out at a hospital. Heath was appalled by the attack and threatened to cancel the remainder of the tour, but Cole convinced him to continue.

Adams, Vinson and Vinson were convicted of assault and battery and each sentenced to serve 180 days in jail.

References

• Gray, Jeremy (January 11, 2018) "The night Nat King Cole was beaten on a Birmingham stage" The Birmingham News