Natalie Cole was remembered as a loyal friend, “the best and bossiest big sister,” and a worthy successor to her famous father’s legacy in a joyous and music-filled funeral highlighting her Baptist fa
Natalie Cole was remembered as a loyal friend, “the best and bossiest big sister,” and a worthy successor to her famous father’s legacy in a joyous and music-filled funeral highlighting her Baptist faith on Monday.
The two-hour, 50-minute service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ was filled with affection for the daughter of crooner Nat King Cole who carved out her own Grammy Award-winning legacy during a 40-year career. Known for effortlessly crossing R&B, pop and jazz genres with such hits as This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), Inse-parable, and Our Love, she died New Year’s Eve at age 65 of pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure.
“My sister was a warrior in the best sense of the word,” Casey Cole Hooker said. “In the end her body simply began to give out and it shut down. She was long accepting of what was coming and trying to make us OK.” Cole Hooker’s twin, Timolin Cole Augustus, read a condolence letter from President Barack Obama to the singer’s 38-year-old son Robert Yancy. Among the several hundred mourners were singers Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder, along with Cole’s frequent producer David Foster, actress Angela Bassett and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who did not speak. Khan had been expected to sing, but didn’t because of illness. Freddy Cole, the singer’s 84-year-old uncle and the last surviving brother of Nat King Cole, also atte-nded. Wonder played harmonica and sang The Lord’s Prayer, getting the crowd on its feet and cheering at the end. Richie recalled the extra pressure Cole faced trying to make it in the entertainment industry as the daughter of a legendary singer.
