LOS
ANGELES, Calif. - Natalie Cole, the Grammy-winning daughter of Nat
"King" Cole" who carried on her late father's musical legacy and,
through technology, shared a duet with him on "Unforgettable," has died.
She was 65.
Cole
died Thursday evening at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due
to compilations from ongoing health issues, her family said in a
statement.
"Natalie
fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived ... with
dignity, strength and honour. 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
had battled drug problems and hepatitis that forced her to undergo a
kidney transplant in May 2009. Cole's older sister, Carol "Cookie" Cole,
died the day she received the transplant. Their brother, Nat Kelly
Cole, died in 1995.
Natalie
Cole was inspired by her dad at an early age and auditioned to sing
with him when she was just 11 years old. She was 15 when he died of lung
cancer, in 1965.
She began as an R&B singer but later gravitated toward the smooth pop and jazz standards that her father loved.
Cole's
greatest success came with her 1991 album, "Unforgettable ... With
Love," which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some
of his best-known songs, including "That Sunday That Summer," ''Too
Young" and "Mona Lisa."
Her voice was spliced with her dad's in the title cut, offering a delicate duet a quarter-century after his death.
The
album sold some 14 million copies and won six Grammys, including album
of the year as well record and song of the year for the title track
duet.
