Singer NANCY OVERTON has lost her battle with esophageal cancer. She was 83.
Overton, best-known for singing with 1950s pop group the Chordettes, died on 5 April (09) in Blairstown, New Jersey.
The singers had already climbed to the top of the U.S. music charts with their hit song Lollipop by the time she joined the line-up, replacing singer Janet Ertel.
She went on to sing in the original recordings of two of the group's hits: Zorro, in 1958, and Never on Sunday, in 1961, just before the quartet disbanded.
Before singing with the Chordettes, Overtone recorded with jazz musician Benny Goodman and big band trombonist and trumpeter Tommy Dorsey.
Overton is survived by two sons from her marriage to jazz pianist Hall Overton, who died in 1972.