In the life of Natalie Cole, death — especially early death — was a recurrent theme. When she and I collaborated in 2010 on a memoir about her near-death experience a year earlier in which she received a kidney transplant, she was unflinchingly candid.
“So many things have happened in my life,” she reflected, “but the death of my father remains the most painful. I adored him in a way that only a teenager girl can adore her dad. When he died, I fell apart. For years, I ran from his memory. I even ran from his music. When I inadvertently stumbled into a career, I was thrilled to learn that I could sing rhythm and blues. I loved singing soul. But it wasn’t until I found the courage to sing the music associated with my father that I found my deepest peace and greatest satisfaction. ‘Acercate Mas’ means come closer. The fact that even in Dad’s death we have grown closer brings me a beautiful comfort. It makes me think we ascribe too much severity to death. Spirit doesn’t die. Music doesn’t die. And the love that links spirit to music knows nothing about death. That spirit, that music, that love is eternal.”
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