Natalie Cole, master of past and present styles

Daughter of Legendary jazz pianist, Nat King Cole and a celebrated singer herself, Natalie Cole dies at the age of 65 on a sad morning of Friday.

There were no immediate details about how or where Cole died. She also reportedly suffered from Hepatitis C, and had complications from a kidney transplant.

Cole’s 1991 album, Unforgettable … Her debut album, “Inseparable”, released in 1975, earned Cole her first two of nine Grammy awards. “She passed last night and we were not with her as we are back in Florida, but she was in hospital with her son Robert, he was by her side”.

“We’ve lost a wonderful, highly cherished artist and our heartfelt condolences go out to Natalie’s family, friends, her many collaborators, as well as to all who have been entertained by her exceptional talent”, Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. She needed dialysis three times a week until she received a donor kidney on May 18, 2009. Cole continued to have hits through the rest of the 70’s but, as the 80’s dawned, her drug addiction began to take a toll and, in 1983, she reportedly entered a rehab facility for six months. It forced Cole to cancel tour dates towards the end of a year ago.

Cole was married three times, and divorced from her husband in 2004. Her records and life’s work is something to be extremely proud of and a glorious continueum of the cole family legacy.

“I still love recording and still love the stage, but like my dad, I have the most fun when I am in front of that glorious orchestra or that kick-butt big band”, Ms. Cole said on her website in 2008. Over a career spanning almost four decades, she was a master of material ranging from contemporary pop and R&B ballads to dance music to the standards that had been her father’s turf. “I have had very few conversations where people don’t ask, ‘Have you thought about making a record with your father the way Natalie Cole did?,'” adds the fellow Grammy Award victor.

From songs like “This will be” to the classic duets with her father she constantly was changing the game. Natalie Cole could also branch out into slightly more experimental territory, like her Lennon-McCartney cover “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, or bossa-influenced jazz “La Costa”, something of an early template for chillout and neo-soul.

She had her first break performing in clubs as the daughter of Nat “King” Cole, but struggled to find her niche singing more modern R&B numbers. “You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life”. However, she did not have her father around to help guide her music career when she got older.