Natalie Cole died from pulmonary tension, which led to heart failure

Natalie Cole’s family said the singer’s cause of death was idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure. Her family said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday that after Cole received a kidney transplant in 2009, she was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare lung disease that causes shortness of breath, dizziness and sometimes chest pain.