Grieving Natalie Cole out to dinner with friends looking incredibly thin

This is a name we haven’t heard in a long time, but singer Natalie Cole surfaced last night in Los Angeles looking very frightfully thin.

An incredibly gaunt Natalie was photographed leaving Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills last night, where she had dinner with friends.

Sixty-two year old Natalie has struggled with kidneys problems in the past, so maybe she is sick. She had a kidney transplant in 2009 and in 2008 she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.  In addition to her health problems, her mother, Maria, passed away a few weeks ago following a short battle with stomach cancer.

Or, and this is a big OR, maybe she is back to being on drugs. Natalie has been very frank about her addiction to crack cocaine and heroin.