American singer and songwriter Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat King Cole, died on Thursday night at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 65.
According to publicist Maureen O’Connor, the cause of Natalie’s death was reportedly congestive heart failure. She fought health problems for years and received a kidney transplant in 2009 after developing Hepatitis C.
“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,” her sisters, Timolin and Casey Cole, and son, Robert Yancy, said in the statement. “Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever.”
Natalie rose to fame in the mid–1970s as an R&B artist with the hits “This Will Be”, “Inseparable”, and “Our Love”. She re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac”.
In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable… with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.