Natalie Cole

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Notable

Family

American singer and noted family, the daughter of popular music entertainer of the '50s, Nat "King" Cole. She won Grammys in 1975 as "Best New Artist" and "Best Female R&B Vocalist." By 1979, she had released six consecutive gold records and was well on her way to becoming the top woman pop performer in the country. She won another Grammy for "Album of the Year" on 25 February 1992. Her famous dad, Nat "King" Cole, raised his family in the beautiful neighborhood of wealthy Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Her father spent many months on the road performing club dates and concerts abroad for royalty. As the eldest of her siblings, Natalie played with her adopted sister Carol, brother Kelly, and twin sisters Casey and Timolin. Her father was generous, kind and trusting to both friends and strangers. Her homemaker mother, Maria was protective of her family but cautious of others. Although she was not pushed into show business, Cole displayed vocal talents by the time she was 11. She performed with her father on a three-week tour of California. At 15, while Cole was attending a private academy in Massachusetts her father died of lung cancer. Living a privileged insulated life in the East coast, Cole was devastated by the news of her father's death. Her world opened up when she attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Discovering her black heritage, she marched on the administration for a black studies program. She experimented with drugs, radical politics and enjoyed sexual freedom. Cole tried out her abilities at singing by joining the group "Black Magic" in the summer of 1971. In 1972, she graduated with a BA in child psychology and toured the U.S. and Canada with the rock group. In 1973, she was arrested in Canada for heroin possession. Once she returned to the U.S. she continued to use heroin until 13 August 1974 when Cole kicked the habit by herself. In 1974, Cole met songwriter and producer, Marvin Yancy and his partner Chuck Jackson. By their efforts, she put together her first R&B album. On 28 February 1976 she won two Grammy's for her next album, "Inseparable." She was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978, however by the next year she was heavily addicted to cocaine and alcohol. Finding fame and stardom as the daughter of a famous entertainer difficult to manage, Cole's recording career and personal life hit rock bottom in 1983. After her stay in a rehabilitation center, Cole staged a recording comeback in 1987. By 1991, she decided to record an album of standards that were considered her dad's best signature songs. By the miracle of electronics, she recorded his famous, "Unforgettable," in a duet style singing along with her (now deceased) father. The album, "Unforgettable With Love," spent five weeks at the top of Billboard's pop album chart and selling more than eight million copies worldwide. Cole married her record producer, Marvin Yancy on 30 July 1976 and gave birth to their son Robert in 1977. Her first marriage ended amid cocaine and alcohol problems in 1980 and later, in 1985, Yancy died. Cole married Andre Fischer, a record producer, in September 1989. She and Fischer raised her son, Robert, a drum enthusiast. Cole was baptized a Baptist in September 1975. Cole has had many difficulties with drug addiction in her life. She started experimenting with drugs in college and continued to use heroin and then later cocaine and alcohol during her rise to recording artist in the late'70s and early '80s. In 1983, she wandered the streets of Los Angeles buying cocaine from drug pushers and has survived many car accidents while under the influence of drugs. Intervention by a friend finally gave Natalie the courage to seek help at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. She entered the clinic for drug rehab 29 November 1983 to 16 May 1984. While she was in the clinic her mother petitioned the state of California for conservatorship of Cole's financial estate. Cole recognized the issues of doubts and uncertainties that have plagued her personal life and recording career. In her autobiography, "Angel on My Shoulder," she alludes to a long stint of drug abuse and her escape from a fire at the Las Vegas Hilton that killed eight people. In 2001 she fell in love with a preacher-man and married Bishop Kenneth Dupree, 45, at his Baptist church in Nashville on 13 October 2001. It was her third marriage and his second. The singer filed for divorce from Dupree on 30 January 2004 in Los Angeles. On 12 September 2008, she was hospitalized in New York City with side effects from hepatitis C and chemotherapy. She had been recently diagnosed with the disease and chemotherapy was part of her treatment. In April 2009 she announced that her bouts of chemotheraphy had caused both kidneys to fail. She underwent a successful kidney transplant on 19 May 2009 in Los Angeles. Cole canceled several events in December 2015 due to illness. It was reported on 1 January 2016, that Cole had died on the evening of 31 December at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her family stated the cause of the death was complications from "ongoing health issues." Link to Wikipedia biography