Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 â€" December 31, 2015) was an
American singer, songwriter, and actress. Cole was the daughter of
American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in
the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the hits "This Will Be",
"Inseparable" (1975), and "Our Love" (1977). She returned as a pop
singer on the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce
Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she sang traditional pop
by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with
Love, which sold over seven million copies and won her seven Grammy
Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide. On December 31,
2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure.Natalie Cole was
born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, to American singer
and jazz pianist Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra
singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, and raised in the affluent Hancock
Park district of Los Angeles. Regarding her childhood, Cole referred
to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great
singers of jazz, soul and blues. At the age of 6, Natalie sang on her
father's Christmas album The Magic of Christmas and later started
performing at age 11.Cole grew up with an older adopted sister, Carole
"Cookie" Cole (1944â€"2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's
daughter), adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959â€"95), and younger
twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961). Through her mother, Cole
was a grandniece of educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Her paternal
uncle Freddy Cole was a singer and pianist with numerous albums and
awards.
American singer, songwriter, and actress. Cole was the daughter of
American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in
the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the hits "This Will Be",
"Inseparable" (1975), and "Our Love" (1977). She returned as a pop
singer on the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce
Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she sang traditional pop
by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with
Love, which sold over seven million copies and won her seven Grammy
Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide. On December 31,
2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure.Natalie Cole was
born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, to American singer
and jazz pianist Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra
singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, and raised in the affluent Hancock
Park district of Los Angeles. Regarding her childhood, Cole referred
to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great
singers of jazz, soul and blues. At the age of 6, Natalie sang on her
father's Christmas album The Magic of Christmas and later started
performing at age 11.Cole grew up with an older adopted sister, Carole
"Cookie" Cole (1944â€"2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's
daughter), adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959â€"95), and younger
twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961). Through her mother, Cole
was a grandniece of educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Her paternal
uncle Freddy Cole was a singer and pianist with numerous albums and
awards.
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