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‘Wild Thing’ singer Reg Presley dies

Posted at 2:06 PM, Feb 05, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-05 14:06:08-05

(CNN) — Singer Reg Presley of British band The Troggs has died, CNN has confirmed. He was 71.

Famous for the 1966 song “Wild Thing,” Presley and The Troggs were also behind other hits like “With a Girl Like You,” “I Can’t Control Myself” and “Love Is All Around.”

The BBC reports that Presley died at his home in the U.K. surrounded by his family. The singer had reportedly been diagnosed with lung cancer the year before.

“Reg was an amazing man,” Presley’s manager told CNN in a statement. “He worked all over the world with The Troggs … Even Jimi Hendrix copied the man from Andover.”

He went on to describe Presley as “a warrior of the ’60s boom and not afraid to travel outside the London West End bubble to spread Troggmania.”

As Rolling Stone notes, The Troggs were part of music’s “British Invasion wave” that included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who.

“Wild Thing” is No. 261 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. With singles like that one, Rolling Stone says, “the band helped to define garage rock in the ’60s and inspired the architects of what would evolve into punk rock in the ’70s, including Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones.”