RIP Natalie Cole, Grammy-winning singer

The daughter of jazz-pop legend Nat King Cole was best known for a virtual duet with her father, digitally put together after he died.

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.

Cole had been suffering from various health issues, her family said, and she had cancelled several tours in 2015 citing medical reasons.

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

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 what really changed her orbit was 1991’s barnstorming Unforgettable…with Love, a pop standards cover album that featured Cole magically duetting with her late father on a clever re-take of his 1951 classic “Unforgettable”.

The American singer won nine Grammy awards and her most remarkable hits were like “This will be” and “Inseparable”.

Her career reached the superstar level in 1991 when she recorded “Unforgettable…”

The album sold some 14 million copies and won six Grammys, including album of the year as well record and song of the year for the title track duet.

Her other hits included “Everlasting”, “Sophisticated Lady”, “I’ve Got love on My Mind”, and “Good to Be Back”.

Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole and one of the smoothest singers in recent decades, died from congestive heart failure. She needed dialysis three times a week until she received a donor kidney on May 18, 2009. FILE – In a Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009 file photo, Natalie Cole holds the best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocalist award backstage at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles.

“I am sorry to hear about Natalie Cole’s passing”.

She is said to have passed away last night, in a Los Angeles hospital. In 2007, Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis C, which doctors said she likely contracted years earlier when she injected heroin.

“As the new year was ushered in, an angelic instrument moved on”.

In a 2000 autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, Cole related how she struggled with depression, most painfully after the death of her father and the near-drowning of her son in a swimming pool. FILE – In a Sunday, July 6, 2003 file photo, singer Natalie Cole performs on Stravinsky stage, during the 37th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland.

Her own life saved, Cole was devastated at the loss of her sister, but grateful to the family of the woman whose kidney she received.