Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole dies at 65

She is said to have passed away last night, in a Los Angeles hospital. The show received dozens of emails from fans offering her replacement kidneys.

Her album, “Unforgettable… With Love”, won the Grammy for Album of the Year and has sold more than seven million copies in the United States. “Wild tales of the two singers” bitter hostility are now part of R&B lore.

“Natalie Cole, sister beloved & of substance and sound”.

That’s in no way a slight. Natalie Cole’s voice was perfection. She was blessed with superior vocal range, solid phrasing and a workhorse ability to dramatically build a song into a powerful climax.

The public loved her either way. Then, take a listen to her quietude and interiority on the gossamer-gentle wedding ballad “Inseparable”. “I know how hard she fought”, said Aretha Franklin in a statement.

Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole and one of the smoothest singers in recent decades, died from congestive heart failure. But she went to the University of MA in Amherst with no plans of an entertainment career.

“I thank my dad for leaving me such a wonderful, wonderful heritage”, Cole said in accepting her awards.

While fighting her own battles, Cole was helping her sister, Cookie, battle cancer.

But she was happiest touring and performing live. As she grew up without her father’s guidance, Cole never abandoned music.

Other hits included “This Will Be”, “Our Love” and a cover of “Pink Cadillac”.

The virtual duet with her late father on his earlier hit “Unforgettable” garnered three Grammy Awards, part of the nine total Grammys Cole had won over the course of her career. In 2013, Cole’s debut Spanish-language album, “En Espanol”, was nominated for in the Latin Grammy awards for album of the year.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Natalie Cole, as I have cherished the long friendship I had with her, her father Nat, and the family over the years…” Still, her all-markets approach to jazz-pop fusion, not entirely dissimilar from artists like Brenda Russell and Oleta Adams, helped pave a path for future stars in the jazz-pop field like Vanessa Williams, Queen Latifah and, I’d venture, even later mainstream acts ranging from Michael Bublé to tuxedo-clad Rod Stewart. Deceased musicians are resurrected with more innovative technology nowadays – remember the Tupac hologram? – but in 1991, Cole was ahead of her time. We can extend that logic and say that in 2016, we owe it to ourselves to talk more about the brilliance of R&B singers like Avery Sunshine, Jazmine Sullivan and Ledisi (to name a few). What an incredible woman, a loving. joyful & peaceful soul. “To the decorous phrasing of a big band singer she brings a steady current of soul-music sassiness”.