Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable (1975), along with the song "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", and the album's title track. Its success led to her receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, for which she became the first African-American recipient as well as the first R&B act to win the award. The singles "Sophisticated Lady" (1976), "I've Got Love on My Mind", and "Our Love" (1977) followed.

After releasing several albums, she departed from her R&B sound and returned as a pop singer on the 1987 album Everlasting, along with 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 was certified 7× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Unforgettable… with Love won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for which Cole became the first African-American woman to win the award.

Throughout her lifetime, Cole received nine Grammy Awards, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, and sold over 30 million records worldwide. She was awarded the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999, and has been posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2021), and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Natalie Cole was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, 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. Cole sang on her father's 1960 Christmas album The Magic of Christmas and later started performing at age 11.

Cole grew up with an older adopted sister, Carole "Cookie" Cole (1944–2009), her mother Maria's younger sister's daughter, adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959–1995), 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.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.