Funeral arrangements have been made for singer Natalie Cole who passed away on New Year’s Eve of heart failure. Cole will be laid to rest near her mother, father Nat King Cole and siblings in Los Angeles and will be given a send off fitting an icon by dear friend Chaka Khan. According to sources close to the family, Chaka Khan is slated to sing at the funeral, which will surely be attended by luminaires of the music industry. Khan was the first to express her condolences to the family after she passed away. The  music industry suffered another lost when pop icon David Bowie passed away late Sunday after an eighteen month battle with cancer. He was 69. His 25th studio album, “Blackstar”, was released Friday.  Born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, he took up saxophone at an early age and began leading a blues band by the time he became a teenager. He went on to reinvent himself throughout the remaining decades, embracing jazz, funk, rock, pop and in later years, electronica. He was also a major influence on hip hop artist, with many sampling his material to create hits for themselves; Jay Z, Public Enemy, MC Lyte. Crooked I and Puff Daddy & The Family among them.  Many celebrities took to social  media to share their sadness and recall his influence on contemporary music. Bowie was without question a musical as well as fashion innovator who consistently pushed boundaries. He also pushed cable channel MTV to air the videos of black artists, which the network refused to do in it’s early days. His legacy will live on.