Gene Francis Alan Pitney

 Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006)

Pitney charted 16 Top-40 hits in the U.S., four in the Top 10. In the UK he had 22 Top-40 hits, and 11 singles in the Top Ten. He also wrote the early 1960s hits "Rubber Ball" recorded by Bobby Vee, "He's a Rebel" by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the height of his fame in 1966, Pitney married his childhood sweetheart, Lynne Gayton, and the couple had three sons, Todd, Chris, and David. Pitney was touring the UK in the spring of 2006 when his manager found him dead in his hotel room in Cardiff on April 5. An autopsy found the cause of death to be a heart attack and that he had severely occluded coronary arteries. He is buried at Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, CT.