Singer Natalie Cole Has Died at 65

“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived – with dignity, strength and honor”, her family said in a statement.

‘Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever’.

According to TMZ, Cole had been sick and had recently canceled several December concert dates, as well as a concert that had been due for February.

Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis in 2008 from sharing needles with drug addicts, and underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2009.

First known as the daughter of jazz icon Nat “King” Cole, singer Natalie Cole made a name for herself on her own talent, and now, Natalie Cole has died at age 65.

Cole rose to fame with a number of hits including This Will Be, Inseparable and Our Love. On the inside, she was battling drug addiction.

After delving into R&B, soul and pop, Cole achieved her greatest success in 1991 by returning to some of the classics sung by her father. Imagine my surprise to see her throwback cover end up on the album itself; the opportunity to hear Natalie Cole revisit her own origins was a potent reminder why so many of us fell in love with her sound in the first place. For Cole, the titular catching of said hell was far from fictional: As she turned to drugs, her career fell into a slump for much of the ’80s.

Cole’s mother, Maria Cole, also had been a singer with the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands. “With Love”, an album of songs related to her father, the silky-voiced singer who was one of the most popular performers of the 1940s and ’50s but died before his daughter began her solo career. She sang on stage with Frank Sinatra, but also covered Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac”. She was 15 when he died of lung cancer, in 1965. Patti LaBelle tweeted, “She will be truly missed but her light will shine forever!”

Cole, who married three times, has a son, Robert, and four siblings. Foster will have a one night only concert Tuesday featuring Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard, Boyz II Men, Charice Pempengco and a new artist Mark Mabasa.

While making the album, Cole told The Associated Press in 1991, she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned”.

We are very saddened to learn of the passing of one of music’s most celebrated and iconic women, Natalie Cole.