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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2016)
January 6, 2016 Page 11 Arts & ENTERTAINMENT The Law Offices of Patrick John Sweeney, P.C. Patrick John Sweeney Attorney at Law Natalie Cole holds the best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocalist award she received at the 2009 Grammy awards. The daughter of jazz legend Nat “King” Cole who carried on his musical legacy, died Dec. 31. She was 65. (AP photo) Remembering Natalie Cole Daughter of jazz legend carried on his legacy (AP) — Natalie Cole is being remembered for her music and carrying on the legacy of her fa- ther, the jazz legend Nat “King” Cole, by carving out her own success with R&B hits like “Our Love” and “This Will Be” before triumphantly intertwining their legacies to make his “Unforget- table” their signature hit through technological wizardry. While Cole was a Grammy winner in her own right, she had her greatest success in 1991 when she re-recorded her father’s clas- sic hits — with him on the track — for the album “Unforgettable ... With Love.” It became a multi- platinum smash and garnered her multiple Grammy Awards, includ- ing album of the year. Cole died Dec. 31 in Los An- geles due to complications from ongoing health issues, her family said in a statement. “Natalie fought a fierce, coura- geous battle, dying how she lived ... with dignity, strength and hon- or. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever,” read the statement from her son Robert Yancy and sisters Timolin and Casey Cole. “I had to hold back the tears. I know how hard she fought,” said Aretha Franklin in a statement. “She fought for so long. She was one of the greatest singers of our time.” Other celebrities honored Cole on social media. In a tweet, ac- tress Marlee Matlin called Cole a lovely songbird and a great ac- tress, writing “she is now singing in heaven.” Patti LaBelle tweeted, “She will be truly missed but her light will shine forever!” Natalie Cole had battled drug problems and hepatitis that forced her to undergo a kidney transplant in May 2009. Cole’s older sister, Carol “Cookie” Cole, died the day she re- ceived the transplant. Their brother, Nat Kelly Cole, died in 1995. Natalie Cole was inspired by her dad at an early age and audi- tioned to sing with him when she was just 11 years old. She was 15 when he died of lung cancer, in 1965. She began as an R&B sing- er but later gravitated toward the smooth pop and jazz standards that her father loved. Cole’s greatest success came with her 1991 album, “Unforget- table ... 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.” Her voice was spliced with her dad’s in the title cut, offering a delicate duet a quarter-century af- ter his death. The album sold some 14 mil- lion copies and won six Gram- mys, including album of the year as well record and song of the year for the title track duet. While making the album, Cole told The Associated Press in 1991, she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and ev- ery pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.” I didn’t shed really any real tears until the album was over,” Cole said. “Then I cried a whole lot. 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 tele- vised 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 col- laboration with vocals, and a fol- low-up album, “Still Unforgetta- ble,” won for best traditional pop vocal album of 2008. Cole made her recording de- but in 1975 with “Inseparable.” The music industry welcomed her with two Grammy awards in 1976 — one for best new artist and one for best female R&B vocal perfor- mance for her buoyant hit “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love).” She also worked as an ac- tress, with appearances on TV’s “Touched by an Angel” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” 1549 SE Ladd, Portland, Oregon Portland: Hillsoboro: Facsimile: Email: (503) 244-2080 (503) 244-2081 (503) 244-2084 Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com WWW.BOWEIVEL.COM Boweivel CLASSIC CUTS & LAWN CARE MAINTENANCE For free estimates call Owner James Wimbish at: 503-890-4826 Mowing, Edging & Trimming • Pruning, Tilling, & Gardening Clean-Up & Hauling • Leaf & Debris Removal • Composting Yard Maintenance • Bark Dusting • Power- Washing • & More! Commercial & Residential Services “Your satisfaction is my guarantee”
