Kenny Lynch, who had hits in the 1960s and toured with the Beatles, died Wednesday. He was 81.
“Saddened to share this news with you all,” read a tweet from his children Amy and Bobby. “Sadly our dad passed away in the early hours this morning. He will be remembered & missed by many … Bye Dad, we will love you always!”
A cause of death was not immediately revealed but Lynch had previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Lynch, one of only a handful of successful black British pop singers in the early ‘60s, had a pair of Top 10 hits in the UK – “Up on the Roof” (written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin) and “You Can Never Stop Me Loving You.” He was part of the first British tour by the Beatles and recorded a pop version of “Misery,” the first cover of one of the band’s songs.
Lynch also wrote songs for other artists, including the 1966 Small Faces hit “Sha-La-La-La-Lee.”
He is one of nine people pictured on the cover of the Wings album Band On The Run.
Singer Boy George is among the stars paying tribute to Lynch on social media. “Absolutely huge part of my 70s life and on,” he tweeted.
Soccer pro Gary Lineker remembered Lynch as “such a delightful, funny, talented man … and he was simply the best company.”
In a 2018 interview, Lynch shared: “Everything is funny to me, everything's musical to me, everything is readable to me. That’s how I go through life and how I shall go for the next few weeks I've got left.”