Natalie Cole: Underwent successful kidney transplant surgery

Natalie Cole: Underwent successful kidney transplant surgery

Fifty nine year old singer Natalie Cole underwent successful kidney transplant surgery "and is resting comfortably." On Wednesday her publicist Maureen O'Connor said that Cole is going to postpone her summer tour, which was scheduled to start on 5th  June and run through November after her recovery.

Since the month of September Natalie Cole had been receiving dialysis 3 times a week . She still continued to perform, even overseas, in support of her latest album, the Grammy-winning "Still Unforgettable,"

However the kidney dialysis is not related to the struggle of Natalie Cole in her struggle with hepatitis C, a liver disease that spread through contact with infected blood. She announced about her hepatitis diagnosis last year and also said that the disease was likely caused by her possession of drug years ago.

Natalie  received painful chemotherapy for the treatment of the hepatitis and "within four months, I had kidney failure. " She told this to Larry King on his CNN show last month. She also said that without a donor, she would need dialysis for the rest of her life.

After her appearance on King, she received countless letters from people who wanted to donate her  a kidney. But a regional organ-procurement agency, One Legacy, found a kidney for her.

Cole has sold millions of records and grabbed  9 Grammy awards since she made her recording debut in the year 1975. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole had her greatest success with the 1991 CD "Unforgettable ... With Love," which paid tribute to her late father with reworked versions of some of his famous songs.

Natalie won her 9th  Grammy in the month of February for "Still Unforgettable," on which she also sings jazz standards. Currently she performed on "American Idol" and was gearing up for her tour.

During an interview with a popular news magazine last year Cole added, "I'm committed to working. I'm a fighter, not a chump,"  "The timing is intense. The album is special to me, and here I am sick. But you know the saying: These are the best of times and the worst of times. So we'll barrel through."