Entertainment –
Natalie Cole Passes Away At 65

Singer Natalie Cole, daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole and arguably one of the greatest vocalists of an era, has died.

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With R&B hits like “This Will Be” and “Inseparable,” as well as the pop chart hit “Pink Cadillac,” Natalie Cole carved out a lengthy career filled with musical successes. However, the pinnacle of her career came in 1991 when she re-recorded a virtual duo with her late father of the classic hit “Unforgettable.” The recording instantly became a multiplatinum smash and garnered her multiple Grammy Awards, including album of the year.

Born February 6, 1950, Natalie Cole was inspired by her dad at an early age and auditioned to sing with him when she was just 11 years old. Sadly, he died of lung cancer in 1965 when she was only 15. In later years, Natalie launched her singing career as an R&B singer, but later gravitated toward the smooth pop and jazz standards that her father loved.

Her greatest success came with her 1991 album, “Unforgettable … With Love,” which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best-known songs, including “That Sunday That Summer,” ”Too Young” and “Mona Lisa.” In the title track “Unforgettable,” Natalie’s voice was spliced with her dad’s, offering a delicate duet a quarter-century after his death. The album sold 14 million copies and won 6 Grammys, including album of the year as well record and song of the year for the title track duet.

While making the album, Cole said she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.”

“I didn’t shed really any real tears until the album was over,” Cole said. “Then I cried a whole lot. When we started the project it was a way of reconnecting with my dad. Then when we did the last song, I had to say goodbye again.”

Natalie Cole died New Years Eve at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to complications from ongoing health issues, including previous drug problems and hepatitis that forced her to undergo a kidney transplant in May of 2009. In a statement, her son Robert Yancy and sisters Timolin and Casey Cole said:

“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived … with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.” 

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Following the shocking news to start 2016, celebrities and friends flooded social media to share their condolences.

Longtime friend Patti LaBelle tweeted, “She will be truly missed but her light will shine forever!”

Singer Tony Bennet posted a photo of him and Natalie on Instagram, saying “I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Natalie Cole, as I have cherished the long friendship with her, her father Nat and the family over the years. Natalie was an exceptional jazz singer and it was an honor to have recorded and performed with her on several occasions. She was a lovely and generous person who will be greatly missed.”

In a statement, Aretha Franklin said “I had to hold back the tears. I know how hard she fought.  She fought for so long. She was one of the greatest singers of our time.”

Preceeding her in death is her older sister, Carol “Cookie” Cole, who died the day Natalie received the kidney transplant. Her brother, Nat Kelly Cole, died in 1995, her mother, Maria Ellington Cole, died in 2012 and of course her dad, Nat King Cole, died in 1965.

In her 2000 autobiography, “Angel on My Shoulder,” Natalie Cole discussed how she had battled heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol addiction for many years — even spending 6 months in rehab in 1983. When she announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood, she blamed her past intravenous drug use.

Cole received chemotherapy to treat the hepatitis and “within four months, I had kidney failure,” she told CNN’s Larry King in 2009.  She required dialysis 3 times a week until she received a donor kidney on May 18, 2009. The organ procurement agency One Legacy facilitated the donation from a family that had requested that their donor’s organ go to Cole if it was a match.

Cole toured through much of her illness, often receiving dialysis at hospitals around the globe.

“I think that I am a walking testimony to you can have scars,” she once told People magazine. “You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life.”

Natalie Cole was 65.

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Singer Natalie Cole passes away at 65.