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Founding member of the Belmonts, Fred Milano, passed away on Sunday from lung cancer. He was 72.

Milano was born in New York on August 22, 1939 and formed the Belmonts as a teenager in the mid-1950s, along with Angelo D’Aleo and Carlo Mastrangelo. After joining forces with Dion DiMucci, the group entered their most successful period, with classic singles including “I Wonder Why” and “Teenager In Love.”

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Country singer Billie Jo Spears has sadly passed away from cancer aged 74. Her oldest son, Tim Pierce, says she died at her home in Vidor, Texas this morning (Dec 14). Spears was a leading star in the so-called countrypolitan wave of the 1970s, alongside singers such as Crystal Gale, Charlie Rich and Kenny Rogers. She will be best remembered for her classic hit “Blanket on the Ground” which was her only number one on the US country chart.

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Scottish folk guitarist, Bert Jansch, died today at London’s Marie Curie Hospice after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 67. The founding member of the folk group Pentangle was an important figure in the British folk scene in the 1960s and a highly influential guitarist who inspired the likes of Neil Young and Jimmy Page.

After splitting with Pentangle in 1973, Jansch enjoyed a long solo career, releasing 23 solo studio albums in total, the last of which was “The Black Swan” in 2006.

Jansch’s final stage appearance was with the reformed Pentangle at London’s Royal Festival Hall in August. He had also opened in a solo slot for Neil Young earlier in the year. Young has said of Jansch:

Rolling Stone ranked Jansch as #94 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003.

Jansch is survived by his wife Loren.

Just as we are absorbing the news of Jerry Leiber’s sad death, reports come in that Nick Ashford of Motown group and songwriting team Ashford & Simpson passed away today in New York. The 70-year-old had been suffering from throat cancer.

Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who married in 1974, had successful careers as both songwriters and performers. After a brief spell writing for the Scepter/Wand label in the mid-1960s, during which they penned hits for the likes of Ray Charles, the Shirelles and Maxine Brown, the pair joined Motown in 1966 where they wrote a string of classic songs for artists such as Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”), Gladys Knight and The Pips (“Didn’t You Know You’d Have to Cry Sometime”), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (“Who’s Gonna Take the Blame”), the Supremes (“Some Things You Never Get Used To”), the Marvelettes (“Destination:Anywhere”) and many more.

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