R&B artist Natalie Cole has died aged 65.

The daughter of crooner Nat King Cole and jazz singer Maria Hawkins, Cole rose to fame in 1975 with her debut album Inseparable and the top ten track ‘This Will Be’, which won her a Grammy for best female R&B performance.

A string of hit albums throughout the late 1970s cemented her success, but her battles with heroin and crack cocaine addiction led to a slump in her career in the 1980s. Cole’s most successful album was 1991’s Unforgettable… With Love, which paid tribute to her father with versions of his best-known songs, winning her six Grammys, including album of the year.

Cole died on Thursday night at a hospital in Los Angeles of heart failure. “Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived… with dignity, strength and honour. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever,” said a statement from her son Robert Yancy, and sisters, Timolin and Casey Cole. [via BBC News]