In an artist’s life full of extraordinary days, Tuesday will stand out for ever for frequent Palm Beach visitor Natalie Cole, the songbird daughter of jazz great Nat King Cole.

Natalie Cole

The ailing nine-time Grammy winner, 59, was watching tearfully as her older sister Carol lay dying in a Tarzana, Calif., hospital early that day when she received a phone call from her surgeon.

An organ-procurement agency, he told Natalie, finally found a kidney for the transplant she’d been awaiting for months.

Natalie’s other sisters, Boca Raton twins Timolin and Casey Cole, watched the incredible scene.

For Timolin’s interview, look below

“It’s been very bitter sweet,” Timolin told Page2Live from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. That’s where Natalie, whose kidneys failed because of her treatment for hepatitis C, is recovering from the apparently successful operation. “Here we are all crying by the bedside of a sister falling into a coma and dying, and Natalie gets the most important call in her life. One sister goes and another is reborn. I’m just exhausted.”

Carol Cole, Cookie to family and friends, was adopted in the 50s by Nat and his second wife, Maria Hawkins Ellington. Carol was the daughter of Maria’s sister.

Carol, Natalie and the twins were raised together and grew up to become co-managers of their dad’s artistic estate, making him as popular in death than he was in life. Nat King Cole, the singer of Unforgettable, died of lung cancer in 1965.

Timoling and Casey Cole (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Lung cancer is also what fell Carol, Timolin said. Carol was told two weeks ago that she was close to death. She suddenly collapsed at home in Tarzana Sunday, and drifted in and out of consciousness on a hospital bed until early Tuesday, when she passed at 63.

“We’ve been in hospitals since we flew to Los Angeles Monday,” said Timolin. With Casey, the two are unmistakable presences on the county’s charity circuit. “We’ve been up and down. It’s been hell.”

Natalie, meanwhile, was improving Thursday, Timolin said. Natalie herself attributed her catching the uncurable hep C to years of drug abuse that included a heroin habit. Until the transplant, Natalie underwent dialysis three times a week.

“Natalie’s doing well considering,” Timolin said. “She’s conscious and talking already. She’ll be in the hospital for a few more days.”

Carol’s funeral has been postponed until Natalie is well enough to attend.