Natalie Cole Memorialized in Los Angeles By Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Others
Stevie Wonder performed at her funeral, and Smokey Robinson spoke.
— -- Natalie Cole was remembered by friends and family on Monday during a nearly three-hour long funeral in Los Angeles, attended by Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and others.
The service took place at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ.
According to Cole's publicist, Wonder sang and Kurt Carr performed with choir. Cole's band, led by her music director Gail Deadrick, played and for one song, the late singer's son, Robbie, sat in on drums.
Speakers included Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Robinson and producer David Foster, along with her son and her sisters, Timolin and Casey.
Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, Rev. Jessie Jackson, Greg Phillinganes and Linda Thompson were also among the attendees.
Cole was 65 when died on New Year's Eve due to heart failure brought on by idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Last week, her family told ABC News in a statement that Cole was diagnosed with IPAH after her 2009 kidney transplant.
"This is a very serious and progressive disorder," her family said. "[Cole] responded well to PAH-specific agents over many years, during which she performed many concerts world-wide, but eventually succumbed to intractable right heart failure, an outcome that unfortunately commonly occurs in this progressive disorder, despite modern therapies.”
The AP reported on Saturday that she will be buried next to her parents, sister, and brother at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif.
