Influential singer and guitarist Alex Chilton, who enjoyed a cult following with Big Star, has died aged 59.
Chilton died in hospital in New Orleans after experiencing what appeared to be heart problems, a friend said.
The musician topped the charts as a teenager and formed rock band Big Star in the 1970s. He also enjoyed a solo career spanning many genres of music.
Chilton had been due to perform with Big Star at the South by Southwest music festival in Texas, on Saturday.
Musical gift
Brent Gulke, the festival’s creative director, paid tribute to Chilton.
"[He] always messed with your head, charming and amazing you while doing so," he said.
"His gift for melody was second to none, yet he frequently seemed in disdain of that gift."
As a teenage singer for the pop-soul outfit the Box Tops, Chilton topped the charts with the band’s song The Letter in 1967. Their other hits were Soul Deep and Cry Like a Baby.
Big Star, which he formed in 1971 with guitarist/co-songwriter Chris Bell, drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel, brought less mainstream success but made him a cult hero.
"Alex was an amazingly talented person… he was intelligent and well read and interested in a wide number of music genres"
John Fry, Ardent Studios
The band’s three 1970s albums – 1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers – all earned places on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest.
In an interview with the Associated Press in 1987, Chilton said he did not mind the lack of commercial success with Big Star and later as a solo artist.
"What would be ideal would be to make a ton of money and have nobody know about you," he said.
"Fame has a lot of baggage to carry around. I wouldn’t want to be like Bruce Springsteen. I don’t need that much money and wouldn’t want to have 20 bodyguards following me."
John Fry, the owner of Memphis-based Ardent Studios and a long-time friend of Chilton’s, said he was taken to hospital on Wednesday after complaining of feeling unwell.
He said: "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."
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