Friday, March 20, 1992
In the early 90’s, the Tampa Tribune had a “Friday EXTRA!” section, an arts and entertainment tabloid, chock full of local and national entertainment news and events for the upcoming weekend.
The section for March 20, 1992, featured the headliner of weekend events at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Natalie Cole, who competed for space in “Friday EXTRA!” with the shocking psycho-sex thriller Basic Instinct, which opened that weekend, and news of MTV’s Spring Break airing live from Florida’s very own Daytona Beach.
Then 42, in her prime, and ramping into Festival Hall fresh from a series of Grammy® wins for her Billboard-sweeping album Unforgettable, Cole was enjoying a resurgence of fame for the wow-factor of “advanced recording technology” that enabled the singer to record a duet with her late father, the legendary Nat King Cole. The album resurrected not only one of American’s most beloved singers, Nat King Cole, but also Natalie’s career, which had plateaued after her recovery from drug addiction and a string of hits in the late 1980s.
According to EXTRA writer Philip Booth, who interviewed Cole for the feature, Unforgettable emerged at the request of Cole fans—both Nat King’s and Natalie’s. Instantly successful in 1991, the idea has sustained Natalie for more than two decades: even in 2015, “Unforgettable” still serves as the highlight of her evening concerts.
Tickets for the show at TBPAC on March 20, 1992 ranged from $25-$35, and she played Festival (now Morsani) Hall.
If you saw Natalie Cole during this performance, share your memories by posting to this blog.