# Natalie Cole has died
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 1, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937 "2016-01-01T21:03:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/1 "2016-01-01T21:03:54Z")
Sad news, as the title says. Didn’t see it posted yet.
[http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/natalie-cole-dies](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/natalie-cole-dies)
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/2 "2016-01-01T21:06:29Z")
Sad news.
On the bright side, the duet she did with her father in 1991 is slightly less creepy now.
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### Author:  [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/3 "2016-01-01T21:43:14Z")
So sad…i did not know she was in such poor health. RIP
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### Author:  [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/4 "2016-01-01T21:57:14Z")
The “Unforgettable” album is among the very first CDs I can remember my family buying. And it’s the first CD (21 tracks!) that I remember memorizing, all the way through.
She was a very talented woman.
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### Author:  [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/5 "2016-01-02T01:58:49Z")
“Unforgettable” is sad, but now it will be even sadder.
RIP.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/6 "2016-01-03T08:10:13Z")
I was totally unaware of her health problems.
RIP.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/7 "2016-01-03T22:27:58Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> Sad news.
>
> On the bright side, the duet she did with her father in 1991 is slightly less creepy now.
Hate to admit it, but this made me laugh.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/8 "2016-01-04T14:00:28Z")
They’re not saying anything about how she died.
I’d love to be proved wrong, but right now I’m suspecting it was the same thing that killed Whitney Houston: drugs.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/9 "2016-01-04T14:17:07Z")
I’m moving this to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/10 "2016-01-04T14:26:44Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> They’re not saying anything about how she died.
>
> I’d love to be proved wrong, but right now I’m suspecting it was the same thing that killed Whitney Houston: drugs.
I have seen absolutely no indication of that. All reports I’ve seen have said she has been clean and sober for years. She died from congestive heart failure with complications of hepatitis C and a kidney transplant in 2009. Now maybe her drug use caused the damage to her body that caught up to her later but it did not kill her directly. There is no indication that she was using at all. She has had failing health for years.
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### Author:  [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/11 "2016-01-05T03:11:29Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> I have seen absolutely no indication of that. All reports I’ve seen have said she has been clean and sober for years.
That was also my impression.
> [@](#):
>
> She died from congestive heart failure with complications of hepatitis C and a kidney transplant in 2009. Now maybe her drug use caused the damage to her body that caught up to her later but it did not kill her directly.
That’s what I thought a likely scenario.
> [@](#):
>
> There is no indication that she was using at all.
That’s what I thought, but didn’t know.
> [@](#):
>
> She has had failing health for years.
That I didn’t know and was pretty stunned by her death. I think she was very talented and am very saddened by her passing. Her early mistakes, that I think she conquered, unfortunately likely killed her.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/12 "2016-01-06T04:20:09Z")
When I heard the news of her death, it occurred to me that I had no idea what she had done to become a star in her own right. I mean, obviously I knew about the duet with her father – which never struck me as particularly creepy, although as a huge R.E.M. fan, I was disappointed that it snagged a couple of awards that “Losing My Religion” might have otherwise won – but nothing rang a bell as far as her by herself. All those times I heard “This Will Be,” and I never connected it to her.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natalie-cole-has-died/741937/13 "2016-01-06T12:38:06Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#):
>
> When I heard the news of her death, it occurred to me that I had no idea what she had done to become a star in her own right. I mean, obviously I knew about the duet with her father – which never struck me as particularly creepy, although as a huge R.E.M. fan, I was disappointed that it snagged a couple of awards that “Losing My Religion” might have otherwise won – but nothing rang a bell as far as her by herself. All those times I heard “This Will Be,” and I never connected it to her.
It’s not my style of music but I would say 9 Grammys and 21 nominations means she had a successful career in her own right. I knew she was big in the 70s and then took a down turn and then a come back. I didn’t realize she was having successful albums through the 90s and 2000s. Those seem to be more in the jazz category and less poppy.