Nine-time Grammy award winner Natalie Cole is dead at the age of 65. Her sisters, Timolin Cole and Casey Cole, and her son, Robert Yancy, issued a statement about her death to Entertainment Weekly:
“It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister’s passing. 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.”
Cole’s debut album, Inseparable, was released in May, 1975, and shot to the top of the charts. It featured the hit single, “This Will Be” and earned Cole two Grammy awards, including Best New Artist. Cole released more than 20 albums during her career– four of them platinum. Her top-selling album of all time was the 1991 Unforgettable… with Love, in which Cole paid tribute to her father’s biggest hits. Unforgettable scored a whopping six Grammys, including Album of the Year.
Born in 1950 to the late legendary Nat King Cole and Maria Hawkins Cole, Natalie made her singing debut at the age of 6, when she recorded a Christmas song with her father.
In 2000, Cole appeared as herself in the made-for-TV movie, Livin’ for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, which told the story of her struggle to overcome drug addiction. That same year she released her autobiography, Angel On My Shoulder, in which she detailed her years-long struggle with substance abuse.
Cole struggled in recent years with hepatitis C and underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2009.
