Natalie Cole Unforgettable won Grammy for Album of the Year

Unforgettable…With Love Natalie Cole

Released: June 11, 1991 Charted: June 29, 1991 Peak: 15 US, 5 RB, 11 UK, 2 CN, 16 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 7.23 US, 0.10 UK, 14.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: traditional pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) The Very Thought of You (3/21/92, 34 AC, 71 UK) It’s Only a Paper Moon Route 66 Mona Lisa L-O-V-E This Can’t Be Love Smile Lush Life That Sunday, That Summer Orange Colored Sky Medley: For Sentimental Reasons/ Tenderly/ Autumn Leaves Straighten Up and Fly Right Avalon Don’t Get Around Much Anymore Too Young Nature Boy Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup Almost Like Being in Love Thou Swell Non Dimenticar Love Is Here to Stay Unforgettable [with Nat “King” Cole] (6/15/91, 14 BB, 23 CB, 16 GR, 20 RR, 3 AC, 10 RB, 19 UK, 15 CN, 2 AU, 6 DF) Total Running Time: 72:47

Rating: 4.381 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Natalie Cole was born into music royalty as the daughter of Nat “King” Cole, a jazz crooner who charted more than 100 times in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s with such memorable hits as “Mona Lisa,” “Nature Boy,” “Too Young,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “I Love You for Sentimental Reasons,” “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” and “Unforgettable.” She became a star in her own right when she won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1976. She landed sixteen top-10 hits on the R&B charts in the ‘70s and ‘80s, going all the way to #1 six times. However, 1991 “found the singer abandoning the type of R&B/pop she’d been recording since 1975 in favor of jazz-influenced pre-rock pop along the lines of Nat King Cole’s music.” AM She paid homage to her father by covering 22 songs – including those just listed – that he had made famous. “Quite clearly, this was an album Cole was dying to make…The 41-year-old Cole sounds more inspired than she had in well over a decade.” AM “Naysayers who thought that so radical a change would be commercial suicide were proven wrong;” AM Unforgettable…With Love “was a surprising risk that paid off handsomely – both commercially and artistically.” AM Not only did it win the Grammy for Album of the Year, but it gave her the biggest commercial success of her career selling more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone. The album’s juggernaut was the title cut, a duet in which overdubbing was used to make it sound like she was singing the song with her father. She was only a baby when Dad’s version was released in 1951. Now, 40 years later, the song became a surprise hit and won three Grammys, including Record of the Year.

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Alex Henderson WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 4/5/2008; last updated 2/28/2026.