Grammy award-winning R&B singer Joe Simon has died aged 85, according to reports.
The singer, who sang the 1972 hit Power of Love and was sampled by hip hop group OutKast, died on Monday in his hometown near Chicago, US music magazine Billboard said.
The musician was known also for US R&B chart-topper The Chokin Kind in 1969 and 1971’s Drowning in the Sea of Love.
In total, Simon charted 51 US pop and R&B chart hits between 1964 and 1981, which including appearing eight times in the US top forty, 38 times in the top 40 of the US R&B charts.
He also had 13 chart hits in Canada and, in 2021, he was nominated as an inductee in the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.
A sample of Simon’s song Before the Night Is Over appears on Outkast’s 2001 hit So Fresh, So Çlean.
Simon was born in Simmesport, Louisiana, in 1943.
It was also announced that Ken Kragen, manager of the Bee Gees and Lionel Richie, has also died, at the age of 85.
The TV and film producer, who co-organised the 1985 charity single We Are The World, died from natural causes on Tuesday at his home in California’s Brentwood.
He died “peacefully” and surrounded by members of his family, a spokesperson said in a statement.
Kragen worked in the music and entertainment industry for many years managing other well-known celebrities including Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John and Burt Reynolds.
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