Reg Presley

Reg Presley (born Reginald Maurice Ball; 12 June 1941 – 4 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter. He was best known as the lead singer with prominent 1960s rock and roll band The Troggs, whose best known hit was "Wild Thing", though their only UK number one single was the follow-up "With a Girl Like You". He was born at 17 Belle Vue Road, Andover, Hampshire.

His most famous composition is "Love Is All Around". Wet Wet Wet's 1994 cover stayed at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for fifteen weeks. Presley used his royalties from that cover to fund his research into crop circles and outlined his findings in a book, Wild Things They Don't Tell Us, published in October 2002.

Reg Presley appears as a character in Steve Erickson's novel These Dreams of You (2012).

Health problems and death

In December 2011 Presley was hospitalized in Winchester, Hampshire, with what was suspected to be a stroke. He was also suffering from pneumonia and fluid around the heart. Presley had suffered a major stroke about a year before. His wife said he first began to feel bad while performing in Germany on 3 December 2011, and had got progressively worse. "Doctors think he has had another stroke. He's not very well and I have no idea how long he'll be in hospital", she said. The following month, Presley announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancerand therefore decided to retire from the music industry.Just over a year later, on 4 February 2013, Presley died from this cancer and, according to his friend the music publicist Keith Altham, "a succession of recent strokes".