Famous singer Natalie Cole passes away

“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived … with dignity, strength and honor”, her sisters, Timolin Cole and Casey Cole, and son, Robert Yancy, said in a statement Friday. It’s highly likely these same people will still be singing along with Natalie Cole for years to come. He’s NPR Music’s R&B expert.

My dear friend has passed away. She was 65 years old.

“I’ve always been an extremist”, she said. Still, no acting roles eclipse her love and passion for music. Which of her songs or albums is your favorite? This will be the one I’ve waited for.

I Love and will Miss her. She reflected many years later on the insecurities she felt earlier in her career with these two figures looming so large over everything that she’d done.

KING: Well, in the 1970s everybody wanted to be Aretha Franklin, but nobody was exactly Aretha Franklin. Cole received dialysis three times a week, but continued to perform. She began singing and performing after college, opted for rock and R&B material for her father’s jazz standards.

Even then, despite her struggles, she was a determined performer. In the months following that show, she cancelled multiple performances.

“I didn’t shed really any real tears until the album was over”, Cole said. “Instead of dancing around the stage, maybe I’ll just walk elegantly”. “I have seen the dark side of life”.

CORNISH: And yet, she did, right, Jason King? She graciously performed at my 50th Anniversary tribute in Lincoln Center back in 2007.

KING: Sure, in the late ’80s she started to have hits again. I’m sure the heavens are absolutely loving you and your dad rejoicing together. With Love, on which Cole sang her father’s hits, earns her three Grammy Awards.

Sichko said the pair hit it off nearly immediately at baggage claim in the Blue Grass Airport in ’07, when Sichko asked why Cole was traveling with five or seven huge trunks of clothing.

CORNISH: She actually spoke to Weekend Edition Saturday about that in 2013. “She represented the Cole legend of excellence and class quite well”. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Singer Natalie Cole talks to the media during a news conference Monday, Aug. 17, 2015 with musician David Foster and other artists for their upcoming concert in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines.

Cole made her recording debut in 1975 with “Inseparable”.

“Peace be still, Natalie Cole, a gracious songbird”.

“The best gift”, she told Jet magazine in 1992. I think the legacy of hits that she’s had is a testament to that. In 1991, she released her best-selling album, “Unforgettable…” It’s called “I’m Catching Hell”. Popular soul ballad “I’ve Got Love on My Mind” led the way for 1977’s Unpredictable. But it’s also autobiographical.

“Dad had been everything to me”, she told the WSJ. I’d say instead that I’ve learned a lot of lessons.

R.I.P.to my friend Natalie Cole. Maria died in 2012 at the age of 89. And much like Gaga, it’s something you have to be born with.