An Unforgettable Evening with Natalie Cole

Join us for an evening filled with unforgettable songs of joy, heart, and soul, as nine-time Grammy Award–winning singer, actress, and author Natalie Cole and her ten-piece band lead us through her inimitable take on the Great American Songbook. As a special treat this evening, Columbus’s own Harmony Project kicks off the night with a mix of song and inspiration from a “200 strong” choir.

Daughter of the legendary Nat “King” Cole, Natalie Cole rocketed to stardom in 1975 with her debut album, Inseparable, and her #1 single, “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” earning her Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. After a string of hit singles throughout the 1970s and 1980s, 1991 brought Unforgettable…With Love, an album of standards including the “Unforgettable” duet with her late father, which spent five weeks at #1 on the pop charts, earned six Grammy Awards (including Song, Record, and Album of the Year), and sold more than 14 million copies worldwide.

While recording 2008’s Still Unforgettable (another Grammy winner), Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis C during a routine examination, having probably contracted the infection as the result of drug use many decades before. The following years saw her undergo extensive chemotherapy, dialysis, and, eventually, a kidney transplant. November 2010 brought the release of Cole’s memoir, Love Brought Me Back, a story of loss and recovery, sorrow and joy, success and despair, and, finally, success again. She is releasing an album of brand new material in spring 2013.

Proceeds from this special concert benefit the Wexner Center for the Arts and will improve access to clinical services for trauma victims for the Ohio State's Harding Behavioral Health's STAR (Stress, Trauma, and Resilience) Program of the Wexner Medical Center.

The benefit will also include, for top donors, a pre-performance dinner at 5:30 pm as well as a post-performance meet and greet with Ms. Cole. Single tickets for the performance are $25, $50, and $100, with sponsorship packages available for individuals, corporations, and foundations. General inquiries can be directed to Holly Kastan of the STAR Program at holly.kastan@osumc.edu or 614-293-5191, or Christy Schoedinger of the Wexner Center for the Arts at crosenthal@wexarts.org or 614-292-3096.

Honorary chairs for this event are Irene Adams and Trish Cadwallader.

Lead sponsors for An Unforgettable Evening with Natalie Cole are Cardinal Health Foundation, Limited Brands Foundation, and Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP.