Natalie Cole received a tribute during the Grammys In Memoriam segment on Monday night, but the singer’s family doesn’t think that was enough.
Cole’s son Robert Adam Yancy and her sisters, Timolin and Casey, are taking the Recording Academy to task for not giving Cole her own special segment of the program.
“Here is a woman who has been in the business for four decades, had 21 Grammy nominations and won nine Grammys,” Yancy told Entertainment Tonight. “She deserves more than (to be a part of) a minute-and-a-half tribute. It was shameless the way they minimized her legacy. We will find solace in her legacy as well as her endless fans around the world.”
A statement from Timolin and Casey echoed the sentiment. “Sadly a forgettable tribute to Natalie Cole. Words cannot express the outrage and utter disappointment at the disrespectful tribute, or lack thereof, to a legendary artist such as our sister.”
Cole died of heart failure in Dec. 2015. She was the daughter of legendary singer Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Ellington. She first appeared on one of her father’s albums at age six.
Her debut album “Inseparable,” released in 1975, was certified gold upon its release and spawned a number of hits, including “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” and the title track “Inseparable.”
Her greatest musical success, however, came in 1991 with the release of “Unforgettable…With Love,” which saw Cole sing covers of a number of her father’s most famous songs. She won five Grammy awards that year, including Album of the Year.
Over the course of her career, Cole won nine Grammys in all, in addition to three American Music Awards, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hitmaker Award, and two NAACP Image Awards.