Troggs Frontman Retires After Cancer Diagnosis

troggs 2010

Christie Goodwin/Getty Images

Reg Presley, frontman for the British Invasion band the Troggs, has announced that he will retire from show business after being diagnosed with lung cancer. According to a message to fans on the band's official site, the 70-year-old rocker was diagnosed after feeling ill at a concert in Germany in December.

"I am receiving chemotherapy treatment and at the moment not feeling too bad," Presley said in a statement. "However I've had to call time on the Troggs and retire. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the cards and calls and for your love, loyalty and support over the years."

Photos: Random Notes
The Troggs were best known for their cover of the Wild Ones tune "Wild Thing" and their original, "Love Is All Around," which was later covered by R.E.M. and the British boy band Wet Wet Wet.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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