The singer, who had suffered drug addiction and hepatitis, "fought a fierce, courageous battle", her family said.
Natalie Cole, the singer and daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, has died at the age of 65.
She passed away on Thursday evening from ongoing health issues at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, her family said.TMZ reports she died from congestive heart failure. Cole had a kidney transplant in 2009 after contracting hepatitis C, which she blamed on her past intravenous drug abuse.
Natalie's parents, Nat King Cole (R) and singer Maria Ellington
"Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever."
Cole, who was married three times, followed her father into the music business with hits like This Will Be (An Everlasting Love).
The Grammy winner topped the charts in 1991 with Unforgettable, a virtual duet with her late father, who died in 1965 when she was 15.
In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, which chronicled her abuse of heroin and crack cocaine.
She was born in 1950 to Nat King Cole and his wife, Maria Ellington Cole, a singer with the legendary Duke Ellington band.
With her parents' pedigree, not to mention musical mentors such as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, she seemed destined for the stage.
Cole began performing with her father when she was just 11 years old, before embarking on a career that embraced R&B, pop and jazz.
She faced racism while growing up in Los Angeles' overwhelmingly white, upmarket Hancock Park area.
When told residents didn't want "undesirable" neighbours, the young starlet said: "Neither do I, and if I see (any), I'll be the first to complain."
Her 1991 album, Unforgettable, which reworked some of her father's best-known hits, sold 14 million copies and won six of her nine Grammys.
Cole also took television acting roles, appearing on Grey's Anatomy and Touched by an Angel, a supernatural drama.
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