Singer Natalie Cole dead at 65 after heart failure

Singer Natalie Cole, who is best remembered for her 1991 album “Unforgettable” and as the daughter of jazz great Nat “King” Cole, has died in Los Angeles. She was 65.

Cole passed away on New Year’s Eve at a hospital in Los Angeles, county officials said. Entertainment news website TMZ reported that Cole died of congestive heart failure, which was a complication from a kidney transplant and Hepatitis C.

Born in Los Angeles in February 1950, she emerged as an R&B; artist in the mid-1970s with hits such as “This Will Be”, “Inseparable”, and “Our Love.” Her success suffered in later years due to a heavy drug addiction, but Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with her 1987 album “Everlasting,” and achieved her biggest success in the 1990s with “Unforgettable… with Love.”

Cole, who won nine Grammy Awards and was nominated 12 more times, was the daughter of jazz great Nat “King” Cole.