She is a sophisticated international pop, R&B and jazz legend who has won countless music awards including nine Grammys. Natalie Cole would add being an artist with a personality by-pass.
Contrary to public perception, she says that a pop star's image is of no consequence — it's the music in you that matters.
Talking to tabloid! prior to her UAE concert, Cole laughed and joked a lot but was dead honest when it came to issues relating to drugs, originality and longevity in today's music world.
Cole, who confessed to liking artists like Adele, Sting and Annie Lennox, said a personal style was something that she did not really care about, given her love for the music she did.
"I kind of like to believe that my personality changes depending on the kind of songs that I'm singing. I do know that myself," she said.
"If I'm singing something that is a ballad then I'm more dreamy. If I'm singing a pop song there's a little more fluff. My personality takes on a different style according to the music. I could be different people on those different songs. Music can be a fun thing."
No faking Cole's candour
There was no faking Cole's candour while talking about the current music scene and its lurking dangers.
"The deal is to try to keep people around you that would protect you no matter what," she cautioned.
"There's a lot of woes out there, there's a lot of people who can't wait to get their hands on a young, naïve upcoming star, whether it's in music, in acting, sport, it doesn't matter.
"They don't care if you're a big star, how much money you make, they just want to take you and manipulate you. You need to surround yourself with people who will watch you, look out for you, protect you and stay behind you.
"Look what happened to poor Whitney [Houston]. She had issues that she couldn't deal with but did not have the support you require to deal with difficult issues like drugs and those sort of things. Let's face it, drugs is a disease and you need a good support system to help you fight it. She didn't and God took her to a better place to deal with those things."
Cole, who will perform a sold-out concert at the Abu Dhabi Festival Wednesday night, said she was "totally excited" about her first visit to the UAE.
'I can't wait'
"I can't wait. We're so happy to be coming. This is totally exciting, almost out of my comfort levels but I'm very interested what this experience is going to be like," she said. "I've heard so many nice things about the UAE. I just can't wait to get there to experience them myself."
When asked if music fans in the Emirates will have the privilege of listening to her belt out classics from the Great American Songbook, she said: "Interpreting classics is what I love doing. These songs are timeless, they're like jewels, they've been around forever. So it's really a privilege to be able to do them in such a way that I find appealing. They are very special to me and it's really great that I can sing them to people who want to hear them again."
What does it feel like to be the daughter of a legend? How did she create her own identity while keeping the Nat King Cole heritage?
"I did struggle when I first started because I had a career in R&B and that was very different to what my dad was doing. I was young and very attracted to singing something a lot different. But I also wanted to be associated with the music that my father did. It was very challenging. Some people were expecting so much of it and others were not. I just had to work my way up, The hardest part was trying to prove myself to my audience. And it took a number of years, but the success was immediate. But the acceptance that I was a talent on my own took a little longer to achieve."
Cole had a thing or two to say about the current music business where pop stars are heavily dependent on an image. "I'm cool with contemporary and modern music, that's fine. I think the question is, how long will most of today's pop stars last? I agree that we have to keep pushing, but we gotta figure out how to mix the new with the old. We have to find a way to combine the two so that we can continue to make great beautiful music."
As a final question Cole was asked what was her favourite album of all time. "Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Without a doubt."
What's next for Natalie
Cole, who released her debut album Inseparable in 1975 and the seminal jazz collection, Unforgettable, in 1991, revealed that she was set to break new ground with her next record.
"I'm looking into doing a Latin project, an international album. It's really intrigued me because as an artist I've been very blessed, very fortunate. I've done a lot of different things. I've done a little rock 'n' roll, as a matter of fact I've just done something with the Allman Brothers Band, it was amazing. I loved it. I've done, pop and I've done jazz and I asked myself, ‘what do I do next? What would move me what would inspire me?' My father did two Spanish records back in the '60s and they were very, very big hits for him and I love those records. So I thought, maybe I should do a Latin record. Emilio [Castillo] and Rudy Perez and lots of other people [have] all done wonderful songs with a few American artists so it should be fun. We are in the talking stage but we're getting very close. I'll think we'll be recording this year but it will come out next year."
