Award-Winning Singer Natalie Cole Has Died at 65

Natalie Cole, the iconic Grammy Award-winning singer and daughter of Nat “King” Cole, passed away last night at the age of 65.

Cole’s family put out a statement saying, “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.”

In recent years, Cole had been very candid about her past drug abuse. In 2009, she underwent a kidney transplant.

Cole started performing in the 1970s and won her first two Grammys for the hit song “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love).” Her father passed away in 1965, when Cole was 15, and in 1991 she released the album Unforgettable… with Love, covering songs her father had performed.

Her version on “Unforgettable” ended up being mixed together with her dad’s, so father and daughter sounded like they were singing a duet, and it took the top awards at the 1992 Grammys.

[image via Everett Collection/Shutterstock]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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