Natalie Cole Dead At 65 — Troubled Singer Had Heartbreak As Nat ‘King’ Cole’s Daughter!

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Natalie Cole, the daughter of Nat “King” Cole and a Grammy-winning singer in her own right, is dead at the age of 65!

Despite having early chart success with the hit song “This Will Be” in the 1970s, Natalie soon hit a downward spiral as a dance diva — and ended up as a drug addict working for a pimp in Harlem!

Despite earlier reports that Natalie had actually walked the streets and sold her body in the early 1980s, she would later insist that her job was simply to lure in men so that the pimp could then set them up with other women.

It was a humbling downfall for Natalie as showbiz royalty, but she finally put her heroin and cocaine habits behind her after a 1983 stint in rehab.

Natalie began a major comeback in the late ’80s, and returned to the charts with the 1991 “Unforgettable … With Love” album — with the title track featuring a duet with her father on one of his biggest early hits. (The photo at left is from a charity benefit in March of 2015.)

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Sadly, Natalie continued to know heartbreak, with The ENQUIRER revealing in 2009 how she had gained a new kidney in the same week that she lost her sister Cookie to illness.

The ailing singer learned that she had a new donor even as Cookie was on her deathbed with lung cancer.

“Natalie was there with her at her bedside at 4 in the morning on Monday, and she got a phone call from her doctors that a kidney was ready for her,” said Natalie’s youngest sister, Timolin Cole.

“She said, ‘What do you mean? I can’t deal with that right now! I’m here with my dying sister!’

“And they said to her, ‘No, ma’am. We’ve got to do it now. You’ve got to be at Cedars-Sinai in two hours.'”

Ultimately Natalie’s transplant was a success but Cookie passed away.

The ENQUIRER was also there in 2009 when Natalie spoke out against Amy Winehouse winning five awards at that year’s Grammys.

At a post-ceremony press conference, Cole told reporters, “I think it sends the wrong message, that even in the midst of her stupor of drugs she can get nominated for all these awards.”

Amy, then 24, had left a UK rehab facility to perform for the Grammy broadcast via satellite from London.

Natalie said she thought Amy “has a great talent,” but added: “I don’t agree with the Grammys giving her those nods…. It’s a slap in the face to musicians and artists who work very hard that they turn around and give it to someone who really obviously doesn’t have a grasp of what she has.”

Amy Winehouse would die in 2011 after continuing to indulge her addictions.

Natalie’s family have only said that she passed away from an ongoing medical condition, with Tony Bennett praising her as “an exceptional jazz singer.”