Unforgettable Natalie Cole Dies At Age 65

Notables were quick to express their condolences.

More than one reference to the singer referred to Cole as a sophisticated lady when talking about her. She died on New Year’s Eve, leaving her family and fans saddened.

“A voice from heaven has been called home”, added Cher in a tweet. This musical Icon from Musical Royalty will be missed.

Using technology that was cutting edge at the time, studio engineers merged her voice with her father’s in the song “Unforgettable”, which had been a hit for Nat King Cole in 1951. Their house, in Los Angeles’ upscale Hancock Park neighborhood, was a regular spot for her parents’ colleagues. I feel she has always been apart of my life in many ways.

Tony Bennett was one of the renowned singers who wrote about Cole’s passing on Instagram, where he also posted a photo of himself with Natalie. Her 1975 debut album, “Inseparable”, made her an instant sensation.

Nat “King” Cole and daughter Natalie Cole pose for a portrait session in 1955. “In fashion, they talk about, ‘That dress is wearing her, she’s not wearing the dress, it looks too flawless for her, ‘ which to me is not natural”, she told writer Richard Harrington. Like Natalie Cole after her, Wilson moved freely and adeptly between jazz, R&B and gospel, creating a seamless fusion approach all her own.

Cole won nine Grammy Awards in all, over the course of her career.

Cole released a second memoir in 2010 titled Love Brought Me Back, a chronicle of her quest for a kidney transplant.

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

Cole also dappled into acting during her career. And in a pop climate that can so often be dismissive of women maturing, she was even more visible in the 1990s than she’d been before.

For years she was addicted to heroin before she successfully completed rehab in 1983.

“Somehow, at some point halfway through those 30 days, I went from not wanting to be there to being afraid to leave”.

Cole began a comeback in the late ’80s that was capped by 1991’s “Unforgettable …” Other hits included “Our Love” and the reworked “Pink Cadillac”, a song originally by Bruce Springsteen.

When we spoke with Natalie Cole in June of 2013 (you can listen to the entire interview below), she had just recorded an album of Spanish language music, as her father had, in the 1950s. “I still love recording and still love the stage”, she said on her website in 2008, “but like my dad, I have the most fun when I am in front of that glorious orchestra or that kick-butt big band”. “She was one of the greatest singers of our time”. She performed his song “Unforgettable” as a virtual duet, singing along with her father’s recording or, when performing live, projected video of his performance. The next year, she was nominated for an Emmy for a televised performance she gave of her father’s songs. She announced in 2008 that she’d been diagnosed with hepatitis-C, a liver disease she said came from her years as an intravenous drug user.

She underwent a kidney transplant in 2009.

“I have been on dialysis in Istanbul, Milan, Indonesia, Manila, London”.

The awards were the first in what would be a string of Grammys for Ms. Cole over the next three decades.