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Saturday, January 2, 2016 6:01am ET by  
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The Grammy-Award winning singer Natalie Cole has died aged 65

The Grammy-Award winning singer, Natalie Cole, has died at the age of 65. 

The star was the famous daughter of Nat King Cole, who died of lung cancer in 1965. 

Cole passed away on Thursday evening (December 31) at the Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, due to complications from ongoing health issues.

Her family have released the following statement:

"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 will remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever." 

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.'

The album sold some 14 million copies and won six Grammys, including Album of The Year as well as Record and Song of The Year for the title track duet.

Cole said: "When we started the project it was a way of reconnecting with my dad. Then when we did the last song, I had to say goodbye again."

 

 

 

She was also nominated for an Emmy award in 1992 for a televised performance of her father's songs.

"That was really my thank you," she told People magazine in 2006. "I owed that to him."

Another father-daughter duet, 'When I Fall in Love,' won a 1996 Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, and a follow-up album, 'Still Unforgettable,' won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album of 2008.

Cole made her recording debut in 1975 with 'Inseparable'. The music industry welcomed her with two Grammy awards. One for Best New Artist and one for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her hit 'This Will Be (An Everlasting Love).'

She also acted, making appearances on TV's 'Touched by an Angel' and 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Natalie Cole grew up in Los Angeles' posh Hancock Park neighborhood, where her parents had settled in 1948 despite animosity from some white residents about having the black singer as a neighbour. When told by residents that they didn't want "undesirable people" in the area, the singer replied, "Neither do I, and if I see (any), I'll be the first to complain."

Unfortunately, she later battled with drugs and hepatitis, which forced her to undergo a kidney transplant in May 2009. 

In her autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, Cole discussed how she had battled with heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol for years.

She spent six months in rehab in 1983. In 2008 she was diagnosed with hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood, which she blamed upon her past intravenous drug use.

Cole underwent chemotherapy for the hepatitis, but within four months suffered kidney failure and needed dialysis three times a week until she received a kidney donation on May 18, 2009. Remarkably, she continued to tour throughout much of her illness, often receiving dialysis at hospitals around the globe.

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Watch a virtual duet with Natalie Cole and her father, plus other videos below.

 

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