Chart-topping and uniquely voiced R&B artist Natalie Cole has recently passed away. She died of  a form of congestive heart on Thursday, Dec. 31, at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.  as a result of past struggles with drug abuse.

An accomplished artist with a total of 9 Grammys, and the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole still experienced her fair share of obstacles throughout her life. In 2000, Cole released her autobiography: Angel On My Shoulder. This book recalls the moments in which she was addicted to drugs such as heroin and cocaine, and it describes her battle with Hepatitis C. She additionally received a kidney transplant in May 2009, as a result of damage from drug use according to The Guardian. In addition, when Natalie Cole was 15, her father died of lung cancer.

Although Cole experienced many setbacks, she was also extremely successful. In 1975, after graduating in Massachusetts, she signed a contract with Capitol Records. In addition to that, she won two Grammys for her first chart-topping single, “This Will Be.”

Though Natalie Cole is no longer alive, her legacy as a radiant artist and human being will live on.