Singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt dies aged 75 - BBC News

Singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt dies aged 75

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Peter SarstedtImage source, Rex Features

Singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt, best known for the song Where Do You Go To (My Lovely), has died at the age of 75, his family has said.

The song topped the UK singles charts in February 1969 and remained number one for four weeks.

It was also number one in many other countries and won the Ivor Novello award for best song composition.

He died peacefully after a six-year battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a family statement said.

The statement said his closest family were "with him to the last" and that many people would miss his songs and his music.

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely), a song about a girl born in poverty who becomes a member of the European jet-set, was replaced as number one by Marvin Gaye's I Heard it Through the Grapevine.

It was included in the compilation programme One-Hit Wonders at the BBC, which was broadcast on BBC Four last year, although Sarstedt also reached number 10 in the charts with Frozen Orange Juice in June 1969.

He wrote more than a dozen albums in a career that spanned more than 50 years, releasing his last, Restless Heart, in 2013

Image source, Silverhub/REX/Shutterstock
Image caption,

Sarstedt, seen here performing in 2007, wrote more than a dozen albums

Born into a musical family in India, Sarstedt was one of three brothers who all enjoyed success in the UK singles chart.

His older sibling, Richard Sarstedt, who performed under the stage name Eden Kane, also topped the charts with Well I ask You in 1961, while younger brother Clive, performing under the name Robin Sarstedt, reached number three in 1976 with My Resistance is Low.

Sarstedt's music reached new audiences when Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) was included in the Wes Anderson films Hotel Chevalier and The Darjeeling Limited, which were both released in 2007.

According to his website, external, he retired in 2010 because of his illness - a rare, progressive neurological condition.