Natalie Cole dead at 65

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January 2, 2016 6:21 AM

Cole, who battled through health problems in recent years, died of complications from ongoing health issues.

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Natalie Cole, the accomplished R&B and pop singer who won a Grammy for her 1991 album of duets with her late father, Nat "King" Cole, has died, Mashable has confirmed. She was 65.

She passed away late Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a family statement.

"Unforgettable ... With Love" won six Grammy Awards, including album of the year, record and song. Nat "King" Cole had died some 25 years earlier, of lung cancer, when Natalie was just 15.

"Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived ... with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever," read the statement from her son Robert Yancy and sisters Timolin and Casey Cole.

Cole caught the music bug from her father, and auditioned to sing with him when she was 11. Cole's early success came in the mid-1970s with R&B hits like "This Will Be," "Inseparable" and "Our Love." The music industry welcomed her with two Grammy awards in 1976 — one for best new artist and one for best female R&B vocal performance for her buoyant hit "This Will Be."

But she re-emerged in the '90s as more of a pop and smooth-jazz artist like her father, finding her biggest success with the duets record, which sold 14 million copies.

She also worked as an actress, with appearances on TV's Touched by an Angel and Grey's Anatomy. But she was happiest touring and performing live.

"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 became an anti-drug advocate later in life after battling addiction to heroin and cocaine early in her career, entering rehab in 1983. Complications for hepatitis C forced her to undergo a kidney transplant in 2009.

The organ procurement agency One Legacy facilitated the donation from a family that had requested that their donor's organ go to Cole if it was a match.

Cole toured through much of her illness, often receiving dialysis at hospitals around the globe.

"I think that I am a walking testimony to you can have scars," she told People magazine. "You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life."

Source: Mashable

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