Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 - December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and actress whose career moved between soul, rhythm and blues, pop, jazz, and traditional vocal music. The daughter of celebrated singer and pianist Nat King Cole, she initially faced the challenge of establishing an identity separate from her father's immense legacy. Over four decades, she became a major recording artist in her own right and won nine Grammy Awards.
Born in Los Angeles, Cole grew up in a deeply musical household. She made an early recording appearance with her father and performed publicly as a child, but her professional direction took shape after college. In the early 1970s, she began working with the songwriting and production team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy. Their collaboration produced Cole's debut album, Inseparable, released by Capitol Records in 1975.
Inseparable introduced Cole as a powerful new soul vocalist. Its best-known song, "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)," became a Top Ten pop hit and earned her Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Further albums, including Natalie (1976), Unpredictable (1977), Thankful (1977), and I Love You So (1979), established her as one of the leading R&B singers of the decade. Songs such as "Inseparable," "Our Love," and "I've Got Love on My Mind" showed her ability to combine emotional directness with polished, radio-friendly arrangements.
During the 1980s, Cole expanded her sound toward contemporary pop and adult-oriented R&B. She scored later hits with "Jump Start," "I Live for Your Love," and "Pink Cadillac," her energetic interpretation of the Bruce Springsteen song. This period helped her move beyond the stylistic limits of her early soul work and prepared the way for the most important transformation of her career.
Cole's landmark album, Unforgettable... with Love, appeared in 1991. Built around standards associated with her father, the album presented her as an interpreter of the American popular songbook while still retaining her own phrasing and vocal personality. The title track combined Cole's newly recorded vocal with Nat King Cole's earlier performance through studio technology, creating a posthumous duet. The recording became a worldwide success, and the album won the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The song also won Record of the Year.
Cole continued exploring jazz and traditional pop on albums such as Take a Look (1993), Holly & Ivy (1994), Stardust (1996), and Still Unforgettable (2008), the latter earning another Grammy. She also recorded Christmas music, appeared in television productions, and took occasional acting roles, including the television film Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000), based on her life and career. Her later work included the Spanish-language album Natalie Cole en Espanol (2013).
Cole died in Los Angeles at the age of 65. Her legacy rests not only on her connection to Nat King Cole, but on the breadth of her own achievement: she was a successful R&B innovator, a sophisticated interpreter of standards, and an artist capable of renewing her career through bold changes in style.