Natalie Cole had Hep C and other health issues, and she was not HIV+, and she died due to problems after an organ transplant.

Alvin Ailey, and other dancers including a lot of the soul train dancers, and broadway dancers did die from HIV/AIDS. Ailey did want his cause of death to be listed as something different from HIV/AIDS.

Ailey loathed the label "black choreographer" and preferred being known simply as a choreographer. He was notoriously private about his life.[97] Though gay, he kept his romantic affairs in the closet. Following the death of his friend Joyce Trisler, a failed relationship, and bouts of heavy drinking and cocaine use, Ailey suffered a mental breakdown in 1980. He was diagnosed as manic depressive, known today as bipolar disorder. During his rehabilitation, Judith Jamison served as co-director of AAADT.[98]

Ailey died from an AIDS related illness on December 1, 1989, at the age of 58.[99] He asked his doctor to announce that his death was caused by terminal blood dyscrasia in order to shield his mother from the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.[100]

Health problems Cole announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, which is a liver disease that is spread through contact with infected blood. Cole attributed having the disease to her past intravenous drug use. Cole explained in 2009 that hepatitis C "stayed in my body for 25 years, and it could still happen to addicts who are fooling around with drugs, especially needles."[17]

Four months after starting treatment for hepatitis C, Cole experienced kidney failure and required dialysis three times a week for nine months. Following her appeal for a kidney on the Larry King Show, she was contacted by the organ procurement agency One Legacy, in May 2009. The facilitated donation came from a family requesting that, if there were a match, their donor's kidney be designated for Cole.[17]

Death and funeral Cole canceled several events in December 2015 due to illness. It was reported on January 1, 2016, that she had died the day prior at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her family stated that at the time of her death, Cole had "ongoing health issues".[18] According to Cole's publicist, Maureen O'Connor, the singer's death was the result of congestive heart failure.[19] Cole's last musical performance was a short set of three songs in Manila.[20]

In official news on her cause of death, her family stated that Cole was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension after her kidney transplant in 2009.[21][22]

Cole's son, along with her sisters, offered the following comment. "Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived... with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever."[23]