Natalie Cole

"This Will Be", Natalie Cole's breakthrough single, was released forty years ago. It was written by Marvin Yancy and Chuck Jackson (Jesse's half-brother), working with Natalie on demos in Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Studios at 1 North Wacker Drive in Chicago in 1974.

Marvin, one of eleven children, had come through Cooley High, and, in his late teens, his driving gospel piano accompanied many greats who visited Chicago. He supplied the music for the song, and Chuck the words. Marvin and Natalie married in 1976, produced one son, Robert, and divorced in 1980. Marvin took over as pastor of his father's church, the Fountain of Life Baptist Church, in 1977, and died in 1985.  

This recording of Natalie for German tv sounds like a mix of her singing live and a backing track most likely taken from the original studio session, with her voice and the Yancy piano/s building very nicely in Gene Barge's arrangement.