Singer Lewis Lymon dies

Singer Lewis Lymon has died at the age of 69. The R&B and gospel musician passed away at his home in Las Vegas on Tuesday (09Jul13) after a battle with prostate cancer.
Lymon and his brothers – including Frankie Lymon, who went on to perform with The Teenagers – began singing together in the 1950s, but the siblings branched out and Lewis formed his own band, the Teenchords.
The group’s single I’m So Happy was their biggest hit and they appeared in the movie Jamboree before they split in the late 1950s.
Lymon joined the Townsmen in 1963, but took a break from his music career to serve a tour of duty in the American Navy during the 1960s.
He revived the Teenchords during the early 1970s and they went on to record new material. Later, Lymon joined a new version of The Teenagers; his brother Frankie died in 1968.
Lymon’s frequent collaborator Jimmy Merchant has paid tribute to his pal, telling the New York Daily News, “His singing and stage skills, as with Frankie, were a true gift from God. We take our hats off to the one and only Lewis Lymon.”