1950-2015 Unforgettable, Natalie Cole Has Died. She was 65. (2161 hits)
(Natalie Cole: looking back at her life and music career – in pictures View gallery)
Cole, whose hits included This Will Be and Unforgettable, died aged 65 on Thursday night, according to her publicist Maureen O’Connor.
Her family said she died at Cedars-Sinai medical centre in Los Angeles due to complications from ongoing health issues.
“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived … with dignity, strength and honour. Our beloved mother and sister Natalie Cole, the award-winning singer and daughter of jazz legend Nat “King” Cole, has died.
The singer had battled drug problems and hepatitis for many years. She had a kidney transplant in May 2009.
Fellow performers paid tribute on Friday night following the news of her death. Aretha Franklin said: “I am sorry to hear about Natalie Cole’s passing. I had to hold back the tears. I know how hard she fought. She fought for so long. She was one of the greatest singers of our time.”
Tony Bennett described her as “an exceptional jazz singer”. He said: “It was an honour to have recorded and performed with her on several occasions. She was a lovely and generous person who will be greatly missed.”
Dionne Warwick said she was “more like family than friend … My heart aches. My sincere condolences to her family and may she now rest in peace.”
The Rev Jesse Jackson tweeted: “#NatalieCole, sister beloved & of substance and sound. May her soul rest in peace. #Inseperable.”
The comedian Arsenio Hall said he named his bass guitar after her when he was in college. “As a young stand up comic I opened for Natalie Cole. She was all that, in all ways! (RIP ).”
Cole’s greatest success came with her 1991 album, Unforgettable … With Love, which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best known-songs, including That Sunday That Summer, Too Young and Mona Lisa.
Her voice was spliced with her father’s in the title track, offering a delicate duet more than 25 years after his death. The album sold about 14m copies and won six Grammys, including album of the year, and record and song of the year for the title track.
Nat “King” Cole and Natalie singing together in 1956 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nat “King” Cole and Natalie singing together in 1956. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis King and I Read more While making the album, Cole said she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.”
