Rewatch Natalie Cole and Dad Nat King Cole’s Amazing “Unforgettable” Duet

It was called Livin’ for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, and detailed her struggle with drug addiction. Cole’s mother, Maria, a singer herself, died in 2012 of stomach cancer.

(AP Photo/ Keystone, Martial Trezzini, File).

Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston, “I Say a Little Prayer”. Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Na…

Ms. Cole’s first husband was Grammy-winning gospel artist/producer and Chicago minister Marvin Yancy, who headed the congregation at Fountain of Life Baptist Church on the city’s South Side from the late 1970s until his death in 1985.

Quoting her most identifiable song, the family said: “Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever”. “But, I sure remember her standing next to me, voice so pure & clear as a bell”. “She fought for so long”. She was a lovely and generous person who will be greatly missed. Their brother, Nat Kelly Cole, died in 1995. She was, after all, the daughter of Nat King Cole, whose velvety baritone was one of the most distinctive voices of the 20th century. On the title song, Unforgettable, she sang along with her father’s taped version to create a memorable duet.

Cole maintained her recording and performing career, most recently recording an album in Spanish, “Natalie Cole in Español”.

As her career progressed, Cole began to drift away from the pop and R&B styles that had defined her early music and gravitated toward a more jazz-oriented style that drew from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald-and her own father. I love Adele. I’m listening to a lot of Spanish music too. When we started the project it was a way of reconnecting with my dad. There were reports that she’d been hospitalized last month, but somehow we’d thought she’d find a way to pull through again. In 1974, Ms. Cole was signed to Capitol Records, her father’s recording label.

“That was really my thank you”, she told People magazine in 2006. “I owed that to him”.

Her 2010 book, Love Brought Me Back, chronicled the search for a donor.

Natalie also popped up on TV, with appearances in the likes of Touched By An Angel and Grey’s Anatomy. On the outside, Cole was fulfilling her father’s legacy and drawing comparisons to Aretha Franklin.

Natalie also pursued acting, appearing in several shows.

The family eventually included five children.

This multitalented woman dabbled in film, television, as well as music and didn’t allow her father’s shadow to define who she was or what she wanted to achieve in her career.

Cole had a history with substance abuse, which she detailed in her autobiography. She said that her health problems were due to drug use. In a 2008 interview with The LA Times about her health, she said, “We can’t lose this music”.

Cole became addicted to crack cocaine and heroin, even at times sharing needles with audience members. In 2009, she underwent a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with Hepatitis C. In 2009, she explained to CNN’s Larry King that her kidneys were failing and needed dialysis three times a week until she had liver replacement that same year.

“Her sumptuous, buttery, vocals are the kind of rare treasure that needs only the twinkling of a piano, the snapping of fingers, and the thump-thump-thump of a stand-up bass”. But you know the saying: These are the best of times and the worst of times.