The first five albums coincide with a shift in Aretha’s success at Atlantic Records. After an unparalleled string of genre-defining hits from 1967-1973, Aretha’s success slowed. Popular music shifted, but Aretha did not. The change began with 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky), produced by Quincy Jones. Expected to be a triumph, the album tanked. Things did turn back around momentarily with 1974’s Let Me In Your Life and 1976’s Sparkle. However, the other 5 albums released from 1974-1979 disappointed commercially.

So, why exclude them from contemporary formats? The story goes that when Aretha left Atlantic Records in 1979, she left with the masters to these 5 albums. That means, Aretha, not Atlantic, owns the rights to these albums. So? Aretha has complete control over the reissuing of this material. As a result, these five albums have never been reissued, remastered, or even released to CD, or cassette, or digital. To this day, they are only officially available on vinyl and 8-track. Only once, on an out-of-print 1994 box set The Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings, were 4 songs from these five albums reissued. The same lack of reissue/digital release can be said for the sixth album, which was released on Aretha’s own label in 2011.

With Everything I Feel In Me (1974)

This album indicated that Hey Now Hey with Quincy Jones wasn’t a one-time fluke. Just two years after the 1-2-3 punch of Aretha: Live at the Fillmore West, Young, Gifted & Black, and Amazing Grace, this album confirmed a slowdown in success. Produced by Aretha’s A-team: Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd, something doesn’t connect like old times. For one, the covers don’t strike like they used to. That’s a sign, because Aretha can essentially demolish any cover she’s presented. The essentials come in the form of Aretha’s self-penned title cut, and her sister Carolyn’s extremely catchy contribution “Without Love”. There’s a first hint of disco here with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, a zipping string cut with freestyle-esque spoken word bits. Yet, in 1974, it feels out of place on this largely R&B album.

Essentials: “Without Love”, “With Everything I Feel In Me”

You (1975)

This is the final effort Aretha released with Jerry Wexler at the boards (who signed her and produced her first big hits). Her own composition “Mr. DJ (5 For The DJ)” opens the album. It’s upbeat, but a far cry from “Sister From Texas” and “Rock Steady”. She demolishes the Van McCoy composition “Walk Softly”, and title track “You”. Fun fact: The title track also appeared on Natalie Cole’s debut album Inseparable, also released in 1975. Natalie went on to end Aretha’s 8-year winning streak of the Best Female R&B Performance Grammy with Inseparable’s “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”. There have been rumors that the song was offered to Aretha but she turned it down. Imagine Aretha cutting through that.

Essentials: “Walk Softly”, “You Got All The Aces”, “You”

Sweet Passion (1977)

Riding high off the success of Sparkle in 1976, Aretha hoped to keep the hits coming. This time around, Aretha linked up with Lamont Dozier of the Motown trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. That trio’s hit compositions (for those unaware) include “Baby Love”, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, “Heat Wave”, “I Can’t Help Myself” and “Nowhere To Run”, to name just a few. The first side overpowers, driven by the trippy “Break It To Me Gently” and Aretha’s flawless composition “When I Think About You”. Side B’s “Mumbles/I Got The Music In Me” is strange but enjoyable with some first-class scatting from Aretha, and Aretha’s self-composed title track is, once again, stellar. Out of these five 70’s albums, Sweet Passion is probably the catchiest and most cohesive. She also did a massive cover of “You Light Up My Life” that didn’t make the album. Good luck hunting that one down in high quality.

Essentials: “When I Think About You”, “Break It To Me Gently”, “Sweet Passion”

Almighty Fire (1978)

This one was supposed to resurrect Aretha. Sparkle (which Curtis Mayfield wrote and produced in its entirety), momentarily returned Aretha to prominence in 1976. Enlisting Curtis to produce again was a no brainer. Unfortunately, lightning doesn’t strike twice here. Almighty Fire didn’t fare even half as well as Sparkle. It just doesn’t hit like their previous work. “More Than Just A Joy” has a “Something He Can Feel”-meets-”At Last” progression while “Keep On Loving You” is akin to the Soul Train themes from the mid-70’s. Despite what it lacks, Almighty Fire does close with a stellar cut, “I’m Your Speed”. A stark contrast from the rest of the album, this Aretha composition is just Aretha accompanying herself on piano. It’s one of only two Aretha songs without any rhythm to it, and it’s hauntingly beautiful.

Essentials: “I’m Your Speed”

La Diva (1979)

Aretha’s final album on Atlantic Records was a stark contrast from her first, I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You). Gone were the days of groundbreaking gospel-infused soul music. Instead, Aretha pursued the overpowering disco trend with the help of Van McCoy (“The Hustle”), who tragically passed away right before the release of La Diva. This album always gets mis-labeled as a straight-up disco LP, but it’s not. There are disco tracks, but they do not dominate this LP. Those disco moments are cute though, including opener “Ladies Only” and “Only Star”. She gets funky on “It’s Gonna Get A Bit Better” and “Reasons Why”. Her son Clarence’s composition “I Was Made For You” is a beautiful ballad, and the soulful arrangement of “Honey I Need Your Love” harkens back to her brilliant cover of Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me”. And for what it’s worth, the final track on the album “The Feeling” is a straight up disco bop that is required listening.

Essentials: “The Feeling”, “Honey I Need Your Love”, “Only Star”

Aretha: A Woman Falling Out Of Love (2011)

After years of delays, Aretha followed up 2003’s So Damn Happy and 2008’s This Christmas, Aretha with her final body of mainly original material. Much of the album was recorded in the mid-late 2000’s, but Aretha was determined to release the album independently. She shopped it around and finally secured distribution exclusively through Wal Mart with a May 2011 release date. Most of it is, hm, not revelatory or worth revisiting (and that’s coming from someone who recently got “Aretha made me.” tattooed on their ribs), but there are two shining exceptions. First is her growling, smoldering cover of B.B. King’s “Sweet Sixteen”. Vocally, she’s as immaculate and unrestricted as only Aretha can be. She juices every bit of emotion out of this blues classic. Second, is a duet with gospel powerhouse Karen Clark-Sheard, “Faithful”. A Richard Smallwood composition, the two channel their spiritual upbringing for Aretha’s final gospel recording. Even on this, Aretha singing gospel remains a magical and unmatched event. Aretha: A Woman Falling Out Of Love is likely out of print and no longer listed on Wal Mart’s website, but is available on Amazon.
Essentials: “Sweet Sixteen”, “Faithful” 

A deal was reportedly in the works to reissue the elusive 5 Aretha Franklin albums in a box set back in 2012. Roger Friedman (who broke the news of Aretha’s condition before her death) reported that Aretha reached a distribution deal with Universal Music Group, but no further information ever came to be. It’s unfortunate because the reissues were set to include a dozen unreleased tracks from the various sessions, essentially an album of material on it’s own. Will we ever see these 6 albums released to streaming services? Only time will tell. Until then, enjoy the shining moments with the help of YouTube.

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“I was just ready.”

In 1991, after more than 15 years in the music industry, Natalie Cole dug into her roots and found the biggest success of her career. The one thing Natalie Cole avoided early on in her career was her father’s music, she was determined to be her own musician. She achieved that, and emerged in 1991 with a 22-song album dedicated to her father: Unforgettable… With Love.

The mid-1970’s were Natalie’s coming out party as a musician. She was a force to be reckoned with in R&B, a far cry from the jazz & pop standards her father championed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Her success positioned her as vying for the crown against the biggest female names in R&B at the time: Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Fueling her ascent, she famously ended Aretha’s undefeated 8-year winning streak of Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance with “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” her now-signature song.

Natalie continued to shine until addiction reared its ugly head and sidetracked her throughout much of the 1980’s. Less-than-stellar musical pairings also did not help keep her career on track. Albums such as Dangerous and I’m Ready, have some quality material, but failed to ignite a lasting spark. 1987’s Everlasting found Natalie returning to the charts thanks to a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac,” but when 1991 rolled around, Natalie’s career would change forever.

“(I)t took 15 years into my career before I felt comfortable and confident enough to even attempt at singing my father’s music” she would later say. Much of the album was recorded at Capitol Records studios in Los Angeles, where her father recorded many of his own hits. It was clearly the magic touch. “I felt my father everywhere” she told Ebony Magazine in 1991 of the recording sessions.

The album is nothing short of a masterwork and a testament to the talent gene being passed from parent to child. While Nat’s voice is unmistakable and inimitable, Natalie’s holds a certain tonal quality that recalls her father. Not only is the album powerful, it’s dense, clocking in at an impressive 22 songs. Recording the album however, presented a few challenges.

First off, there were the label issues. Her label at the time, EMI was scared shitless to let her go off on what they considered a musical tangent. They felt that going so far left would alienate her audience and destroy her career. Suffice it to say they ate their words when Natalie struck a deal with Elektra Records and went full-steam ahead turning her tribute to her father into a reality.

Second, there were the vocal challenges. As Natalie said in 1991, she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.” It is an impressive feat for her to seemingly transition from R&B/pop to the much more challenging techniques and accuracies required in a jazz/pop/standards world of music.

Many of these songs are, for all intensive purposes, Nat’s songs. He sang them first, and he made them the hits they continue to be. Natalie’s renditions and arrangements are more than quality, but Nat’s versions remain superior. Those include “Nature Boy,” “Smile,” and “Mona Lisa.” “L-O-V-E” however, is a par for the course example of Natalie delivering a performance memorable enough to challenge her father’s. “Paper Moon” and “Lush Life” also fall into this category.

Interestingly, there are songs where Natalie outshines her father’s originals, most notably “Orange Colored Sky.” The arrangement she bestows, combined with her spot-on rapid delivery of the lines “’Cause the ceiling fell in, and the bottom fell out, I went into a spin, and I started to shout, “I’ve been hit, this is it, this is it!” upstage Nat’s original vocal performance. Not only that, but her delivery recalls the climactic “Hugging and squeezing, and kissing and pleasing, Together forever throughever whatever” & “So long as I’m living, true love I’ll be giving, To you I’ll be serving, cause you’re so deserving” from “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”.

The crowning jewel of course, is the title track and album closer “Unforgettable.” It created a revolution in the recording industry, pairing Natalie with her late father, for a chilling, incredible performance. It was a transcendent experience for all involved. As producer David Foster recalled, “the orchestra… could barely play… they were gasping when his voice came in and hearing her sing. It was almost like he was alive again.”

To call the success of Unforgettable… With Love ‘massive’, would be an understatement. The album became Natalie’s first number one record within a few weeks of being released. The single “Unforgettable” shot from number 78 to peak at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in a single week. As Natalie said at the time, “It’s absolutely shocking to see it between Van Halen and Skid Row on the charts, totally out of its element.” The album went on to be certified 7 times Platinum, the single “Unforgettable” Gold, and the video for “Unforgettable” Platinum. It also landed at number 47 on the Billboard 200’s End of Decade Album Chart.

At the Grammy Awards in 1992, the album swept. Including David Foster’s win as Producer of the Year, Non-Classical Unforgettable… With Love walked away with 7 Grammy Awards. It also achieved the rare feat of winning Album, Record, and Song of the Year. The Song Of The Year win was so controversial (due to the song being written 40 years prior) that the rules were changed for the following year.

As a result of the massive success of Unforgettable… With Love, Natalie continued to drift towards the Great American Songbook. She released two more albums in its vein along with two Christmas albums. Her return to R&B and pop came with 1999’s magical Snowfall On The Sahara. Another few albums passed through a variety of musical styles, although her final two releases both returned to focus on her father.

2008’s Still Unforgettable was billed as the official sequel to the 1991 album. Her final album, 2013’s Natalie Cole En Español paid homage to her father’s catalog of Spanish music. Both contain a new duet with her father, and their pairings have never tired on listener’s ears. Her death earlier this year was a tragic loss to the music world, but like her father, she will remain ‘unforgettable.’

Sources

“Natalie Cole.” Intimate Portrait. 1 Aug. 1999. Lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_CVxyXAw5I

“100 Essential CDs – Number 29 – Unforgettable With Love –Natalie Cole (1991).”

Reviewsrevues. N.p., 19 July 2015. Web.

https://reviewsrevues.com/2015/07/19/100-essential-cds-number-29-unforgettable-with-love-natalie-cole-1991/

“Natalie Cole Dead at 65.” Billboard. N.p., 1 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6828859/natalie-cole-nat-king-cole-dead-at-65

“34^th Annual Grammy Awards”

http://www.grammy.com/awards/34th-annual-grammy-awards

“Natalie Cole.” – Chart History. N.p., n.d. Web. 2016.http://www.billboard.com/artist/277011/natalie-cole/chart

Pareles, Jon. “Natalie Cole, ‘Unforgettable’ Voice and Million-Selling Hitmaker, Dies at 65.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/02/arts/music/natalie-cole-grammy-award-winning-singer-dies-at-65.html?_r=0

Simon, Scott. “Remembering Natalie Cole, Who Made A Name All Her Own.” NPR. NPR, 2 Jan. 2016. Web.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/02/461700672/natalie-cole-gone-but-not-forgotten

Randolph, Laura B. “The Untold Story of Natalie Cole’s Comeback Tribute To Her Father, Nat King Cole”. Ebony. October 1991, 112-118. Print.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NdQDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Though she was the daughter of a King (Nat King Cole to be exact), Natalie Cole didn’t let her father’s legacy overshadow or impede the creation of her own. A major player across R&B, soul, and jazz throughout her 6 decade career in music, she will be greatly missed and her legacy shall live on. Forging a path distant from music and the spotlight, she received her BA in child psychology in 1972. After performing a bit during her senior year of college, she caught the singing bug, and from there, secured a record deal.

At first, she tried to keep herself independent from her father’s legacy, moving in the R&B direction at “the house at Nat built,” Capitol Records. She released her debut album Inseparable in 1975 and won her first Grammy in 1976 for “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” [which many people of my generation best know from ‘The Parent Trap’ remake in the 90’s], dethroning Aretha Franklin’s 7-year winning streak in the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female category.

She continued to see success throughout the 70’s, but saw struggles in the early 80’s as drug abuse consumed her life. She recovered and bounced back in the mid-80’s, most notably with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac.” She continued with her music career and her crowning achievement came in 1990 when she did exactly what she tried to avoid for years and intertwined her father’s musical legacy with her own.

The idea was presented to her: release an album covering her father’s songs and incorporating some new technology which would allow them to duet. Unforgettable… With Love went on to win 6 Grammy Awards including Album, Song, Record, and Producer of The Year, and also found success at radio and on the Billboard Charts.

Throughout the 90’s she continued to prosper in pop, R&B, and even forayed into jazz. She gave a standout performance at a big blues show, Lightning In A Bottle in 2002 (see video below), and followed up her 1991 hit with Still Unforgettable in 2008. Her final album, Natalie Cole En Español was released in 2013.

She will be greatly missed and remembered as a influential and versatile voice in music.

Take a look below at some memorable moments from her career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fWOrBkkEL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zl2LTsOzCQ

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