newsmakers

newsmakers

Natalie Cole releases album in Spanish

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

It’s been four years since Natalie Cole received a kidney from a Salvadorian donor, and the singer says it not only connected her to Hispanic culture, it has given her the strength to record her first post- operation album — totally in Spanish.

“I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason. That this was a Latin family, I feel like I’m part Latino now. That [made] the desire to make this record become even stronger,” Cole said recently during a private listening session of “Natalie Cole En Espanol,” released this week.

This is Cole’s first album since she received her kidney in May 2009. Her donor was a young woman from El Salvador who died while giving birth to a baby boy, Lucas, said Cole (the Grammy-winner received the donation after suffering from hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood).

“I couldn’t totally grasp, understand it, but there’s something there, the spirit of this young girl, the spirit of this family, the spirit of the Latin culture, of a Latin heart is inside me,” she said.

Beardless ‘Dynasty’ brother to join show

LOS ANGELES

A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” has seen a lot of success showcasing the exploits of the gloriously bearded Robertson family of West Monroe, La., but for the show’s upcoming fourth season, the show’s producers are messing with the formula. They’re adding another one of the Robertson brothers, but he’s beardless.

Alan Robertson, the eldest of the four Robertson brothers, will join the cast of the hit reality series when it returns Aug. 14, according to the New York Post. And the most notable thing about the 47-year-old former pastor is that unlike his dad, uncle and younger brothers, he’s got no whiskers.

Robertson has given up his job as a preacher to work for the family business, Duck Commander, managing the family’s numerous speaking engagements.

But that doesn’t mean Alan will remain clean-shaven forever. According to the Post, the eldest brother does let the beard come out during hunting season.

Vindicator wire services