Based on reports by CNN, Natalie Cole, the Grammy-winning singer who had hits with such songs as “This Will Be” and “Our Love” and recorded “Unforgettable … With Love,” a best-selling album of songs made famous by her late father, Nat King Cole, died Thursday evening.
She was 65.
Cole’s death was confirmed by publicist Maureen O’Connor.
Notables were quick to express their condolences.
“#NatalieCole, sister beloved & of substance and sound. May her soul rest in peace,” tweeted the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“I remember meeting Peggy Lee, Danny Thomas, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and so many others at parties,” she told The Wall Street Journal in 2014.
Tony Bennett, who also knew many of the legends of that era, expressed his sadness on Instagram on Friday.
“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Natalie Cole, as I have cherished the long friendship I had with her, her father Nat, and the family over the years,” he wrote.
At age 6, Cole sang with her father on a Christmas album, and she was performing by the time she was 11. Nat King Cole died in 1965, when she was 15, a loss that “crushed” her, she said.
“Dad had been everything to me,” she told the WSJ.
Born in 1950, Cole grew up among musical royalty. Her father was one of the most accomplished singers and jazz musicians of the postwar era, and her mother, Maria Hawkins Cole, was a singer for Duke Ellington. Their house, in Los Angeles’ upscale Hancock Park neighborhood, was a regular spot for her parents’ colleagues.
Posted by Janice Johnson
