Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole is writing a new chapter in her life story: a memoir focusing on some of her more recent challenges is set to be published this November.
Simon and Shuster revealed that the book, to be titled “Love Brought Me Back,” will primarily discuss her battle with kidney disease, her successful transplant and the death of her sister, Cookie [which occurred on the day of her surgery]. She also plans to share memories of her father, Nat “King” Cole. David Ritz, who helped with memoirs of Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye, is assisting on the project.
In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, “Angel On My Shoulder,” in which she revealed her spiral into years of drug abuse and subsequent recovery. The book was turned into a TV movie that same year.
Fully recovered from last year’s transplant operation, Cole is currently on tour in Europe.
She sang “I’m Every Woman,” but Chaka Khan may not have counted Minnie Mouse or Olive Oyl in that category. Now she can. Khan is set to appear in a cartoon form in the Disney channel’s animated series, Phineas and Ferb. She’ll guest-star with American Idol’s Clay Aiken, performing a new original song, “I Believe We Can.” She told Entertainment Weekly, “That’s my message in all aspects of my life. I’d do anything that lifts kids up.”
Look for her in the show’s August 6 episode.
Khan has long worked to help kids; her Chaka Khan Foundation is specifically targeted to helping women and children at risk.
How’d you like Alicia Keys to play your wedding? A new poll at WENN.com asked visitors to choose their dream wedding singer, and the Grammy winner ran away with more than a third of the vote. Coming in second was country star Taylor Swift, followed by Usher, Bon Jovi and Greenday. Of course, to make that dream of Keys [or any other star for that matter] leading your first dance, you’re gonna need cash — and lots of it. The going rate for private appearances of celebrities runs anywhere between $100K and a million bucks.
In other Keys news, she just split from her longtime manager, Jeff Robinson. The two had been partners for over a decade, but Keys has decided to oversee her own career from here on. While the decision to dissolve their working relationship was “mutual,” there’s speculation that disappointing sales of her current album, The Element of Freedom, had something to do with it. It sold less than half of her 2007 release, As I Am.
Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole is writing a new chapter in her life story: a memoir focusing on some of her more recent challenges is set to be published this November.