SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Famous names can be hard to live up to. Those who carry them are born with expectations as well as advantages. And the sons and daughters of famous people have to make their mistakes and learn their lessons under a lot of watchful eyes. When we spoke with Natalie Cole in June of 2013, she just recorded an album of Spanish language music, as her father had in the 1950s. Natalie Cole told us that when she started out in a singing career, she avoided any comparison to her father.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
NATALIE COLE: Absolutely. No question. When I first started to sing, the last thing I wanted to do was sing my dad's music. And ironically, when I was signed to a label, it was Capitol Records, which I thought that they would be like, oh, you got to sing your dad's music. But they did not...
SIMON: He made Capitol Records.
COLE: He certainly did. The house that Nat built. But they did not insist on that, whereas I went to two other labels and they said, well, are you going to sing your father's music? And I said no. And it took 15 years into my career before I felt comfortable and confident enough to even attempt at singing my father's music.
SIMON: Like a lot of famous fathers, Nat King Cole was often away from home. He died when Natalie was just 15. She had some rough times in the years that followed, sometimes making her own name in all the wrong ways with drugs and drink. But she sought help and she persisted, having her own R&B hits in the 1970s before she recorded a 1991 duet with the recorded voice of her father that sold over seven million copies and won many Grammys.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
COLE: It was very, very difficult, very hard for me, because I'd never had the chance to really spend time working with him. The "Unforgettable" record was done in tribute to my dad. It was my way of saying goodbye because when he passed away, I was in school. I was in - actually on the East Coast in boarding school when he passed. So...
SIMON: And he was astonishingly young, just 45.
COLE: Forty-seven.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
NAT KING COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable, that's what you are.
COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable, though near or far.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
COLE: I believe that, you know, he guides me. Dad led by example. You know, he was not a big talker of, oh, you got to do this, you got to do that. That was not him. He led by example. And I watched. I was very observant. And I learned so much from my father. And he continues to be my number one inspiration.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable.
SIMON: Natalie Cole, who died this week in Los Angeles after an illness. She was 65.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
NAT KING COLE: (Singing) And forevermore.
COLE: (Singing) And forevermore.