Natalie Cole's Atlanta uncle Freddy Cole mourns another loss

Natalie Cole performs on stage at SeriousFun Children's Network's New York City Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on March 2, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Credit: Getty Images

Credit: Getty Images

Natalie Cole performs on stage at SeriousFun Children's Network's New York City Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on March 2, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

By Shelia Poole and Jennifer Brett

Among the many mourning late jazz singer Natalie Cole - who performed in Atlanta in June - is her Atlanta uncle Freddy Cole, brother of the late Nat King Cole. Natalie Cole, 65, died Thursday evening at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to complications from ongoing health issues, her family said in a statement.

PHOTOS OF NATALIE COLE THROUGH THE YEARS

Natalie Cole performs on stage at SeriousFun Children's Network's New York City Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on March 2, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Credit: Getty Images

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Credit: Getty Images

REVIEW OF NATALIE COLE'S JUNE CONCERT IN ATLANTA

A year ago, Freddy Cole spoke warmly about his brother and his own musical career.

Reached Friday morning at his Atlanta home, Freddy Cole was too distraught to discuss Natalie Cole's passing. He is still mourning the loss of his wife Margaret, who died earlier this year.

Natalie Cole was inspired by her dad at an early age and auditioned to sing with him when she was just 11 years old, the Associated Press wrote in her news obituary. She was 15 when he died of lung cancer, in 1965.

Photos: Notable deaths 2016 gallery

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She began as an R&B singer but later gravitated toward the smooth pop and jazz standards that her father loved. Cole's greatest success, the AP's news obit noted, came with her 1991 album, "Unforgettable ... With Love," which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best-known songs, including "That Sunday That Summer," ''Too Young" and "Mona Lisa."

Natalie Cole performs with her uncle, Freddie Cole, on piano, at the Blue Note in New York, Feb. 2, 1999. Cole, a Grammy Award-winning singer whose hits included “Inseparable,” “Pink Cadillac” and “Unforgettable,” a virtual duet with her father, Nat King Cole, that topped the Billboard charts in 1991, died in Los Angeles on Dec. 31, 2015. She was 65. (Steve Berman/The New York Times)

Credit: Jennifer Brett

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Credit: Jennifer Brett