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Natalie Cole Releases 'Unforgettable...With Love' 30th Anniversary Edition

The original 22-track album will also be available on 180-gram vinyl as a 2-LP set March 25.

By: Feb. 04, 2022
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Natalie Cole Releases 'Unforgettable...With Love' 30th Anniversary Edition  Image

Today, Craft Recordings celebrates the 30th anniversary of Natalie Cole's iconic smash-hit, Unforgettable...with Love, with the release of a newly remastered edition of the 1991 album.

Unforgettable...with Love, which earned seven GRAMMY® Awards, topped the Billboard 200 and went on to be certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA, features Cole's groundbreaking virtual duet of "Unforgettable" with her father, Nat King Cole, plus an array of classic hits from the Great American Songbook.

As a bonus, CD and digital editions of Unforgettable...with Love include Cole's stunning renditions of "At Last" and"Cottage for Sale," both of which were released as B-sides during the album's original release. The original 22-track album will also be available on 180-gram vinyl as a 2-LP set March 25.

Unforgettable...with Love is available in all formats, and fans can find a limited-edition purple vinyl pressing of the album (as well as exclusive merch) on Cole's official website. Target is offering a pink vinyl edition of the LP, while an exclusive white vinyl is available at Barnes & Noble in tandem with the wide release. Fans can visit their favorite streaming site today to hear the newly remastered edition of "Unforgettable."

While Natalie Cole (1950-2015) grew up in a famous musical family (her father was trailblazing artist Nat King Cole and her mother was jazz singer Maria Hawkins Ellington), she insisted on paving a distinctive path for herself. In doing so, Cole consciously chose not to cover the songs which her father was best known for (including many pop standards from the Great American Songbook). Instead, she opted for soulful, contemporary R&B material, scoring hits like 1975's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)," 1977's "I've Got Love on My Mind," 1988's "Pink Cadillac" and 1989's "Miss You Like Crazy."

But in 1991, after establishing herself as a musical force in her own right, Cole felt it was the right time to embrace her legacy and honor her father through Unforgettable...with Love. Produced by Tommy LiPuma,David Foster and André Fischer, the album found Cole covering many of the songs which made her father a star, including "Nature Boy," "Route 66" and "Mona Lisa." The singer was accompanied on piano by her uncle, Ike Cole, and backed by lush orchestral arrangements.

Thanks to the magic of digital technology, Cole was also able to perform a virtual duet with her father, who passed away in 1965. Conceived of by Joe Guercio, the former musical director for Elvis Presley, the duet found engineers isolating Nat King Cole's original 1951 vocals from "Unforgettable," allowing Natalie to record alongside her father, 40 years later. Decades after the elder Cole made "Unforgettable" a Top 20 hit, the father-daughter duet flew up the charts, peaking at No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song would become one of Natalie's biggest hits, earning three awards at the 1992 GRAMMYS®, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Unforgettable...with Love, meanwhile, would be a massive critical and commercial success, landing at the top of the Billboard 200 and earning Cole four additional GRAMMY® Awards, including Record of the Year. Currently certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA, Unforgettable...with Love also marks the highest-selling album of Cole's career.

After the release of Unforgettable...with Love, Cole regularly incorporated pop standards into her albums and performances, finding success with albums like Stardust (1996) and Ask a Woman Who Knows (2002). In addition to her prolific work as a recording artist, Cole also penned two memoirs and flourished as an actress-even playing herself in a dramatic, award-winning performance in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, based on her first autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder. Over the course of her storied and inspiring 40-year career, Cole released a total of 23 studio albums, with over 30 million copies sold, worldwide.

Listen to the newly-remastered album here:



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