George Alexander Aberle, known as eden ahbez, (1908 – 1995) was an American songwriter best known for writing the 1948 hit "Nature Boy" for Nat "King" Cole. Eden Ahbez wrote the 1948 hit "Nature Boy" for Nat "King" Cole and it became a huge hit.

Born to a poor Brooklyn family, after his mother died, Eden spent his early years in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York. He traveled on an orphan train to Kansas, adopted in 1917 & raised as George McGrew. Later he moved to Los Angeles, where he adopted a simple, nature-focused lifestyle that influenced the hippie movement. Many other artists sang 'Nature Boy' including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, David Bowie & many more.

Eden used lower case letters for all words, explaining that only God & Infinity deserved upper case. A documentary ‘As the Wind: The Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez,’ is in production. His psychedelic album ‘Eden’s Island’ was released in 1960.
Ahbe's wife, Anna, b.1919, died of bone cancer in 1963. Their son, Zoma, born in 1948, died of a drug overdose in 1969. These losses profoundly affected Ahbe, inspiring many songs and daily reflections on Anna.

On the TV show “We the People,” in 1948, Ahbez told host Dwight Weist, “All the money in the world will not change my way of life. Because all the money in the world could not give me the things I already have. Anna and I have learned that nature and a simple life will bring you peace and happiness. We sleep on the ground in sleeping bags in the California mountains and deserts.”

The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved in return.
- Nature Boy