Song:Unforgettable
Album:Unforgettable...With Love
Early in her career, Natalie Cole had success on the pop and R & B charts with hits like This Will Be. But when she started to fade in the late 80s, she decided to aim her music at a more adult audience. And she still does that today. The 1991 album Unforgettable...With Love was a tribute to her legendary father Nat King Cole punctuated by a duet of the title song with a video. The album sold seven million copies. After her initial success in the 70s. Natalie's career went into decline after she divorced producer Marvin Yancy in 1980 and her drug problems landed her in rehab. It didn't help that Yancy died in 1985. After albums for Epic and Atco's Modern label went nowhere, she returned to EMI's Manhattan label and scored a top five hit in 1987 with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac followed by another top five hit Miss You Like Crazy. It was around this time that she met Rufus founder Andre Fischer and they married in 1989. They told EMI Natalie wanted to record a tribute to her dad. They told her she could do that for a different label. They released her from her contract and Natalie signed with Elektra. Natalie wanted to record a duet with her dad but she didn't want people to scoff at it. In 1989, Hank Williams Jr. recorded There's A Tear In My Beer with his legendary father and a video was produced. The success of this encouraged Natalie and Fischer that they could do this properly. David Foster was hired to mix Nat King Cole's original 1951 recording of Unforgettable with Natalie's new recording with pianist Michael Melvoin, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Sol Gubin, guitarist John Chiodini and a sax solo by Pete Christleib. They used Johnny Mandel's original arrangement for Nat King Cole and Foster arranged the vocals. The album was certified 7XPlatinum and it is Natalie's biggest seller to date. The album won three Grammys and PBS aired a 1992 special that was nominated for several Emmys. It successfully sold Natalie Cole to an older audience that was more familiar with her dad. The album is available as a budget CD. And since then, she hasn't bothered much trying to record pop hits. She currently records for Verve and her latest CD Natalie Cole en Espanol was released in 2013. There's no question that Unforgettable set her up for career longevity as she still tours. Here's the video for Unforgettable by Natalie Cole featuring Nat King Cole.
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