Alex Chilton, singer and guitarist for the Box Tops and Big Star, has died. He was 59.
Chilton passed away at a hospital in New Orleans on Wednesday, suffering from heart problems.
Long time friend John Fry told the Associated Press that the death was "a sudden and unexpected event".
"Alex was an amazingly talented person, not just as a musician and vocalist and a songwriter, but he was intelligent and well read and interested in a wide number of music genres," he said in a statement.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee in December 1950, Chilton found fame as a teenager with the Box Tops, whose song 'The Letter' topped the charts in 1967.
The group's other hits included 'Cry Like A Baby' and 'Soul Deep'.
But it was with the less commercially successful Big Star that Chilton became a hero for musicians around the world.
In 1987, the Replacements immortalised the singer and guitarist in their hit, 'Alex Chilton'.
Big Star were scheduled to perform along with Chilton at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Texas on Saturday.
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