April 6, 2006 21:00

Gene Pitney - cause of death revealed

Results of the post-mortem made public

American singing legend Gene Pitney died of natural causes, a post-mortem examination has confirmed.

Pitney, who was midway through a UK tour, was discovered in his bed at the Cardiff Hilton on Wednesday morning (April 5). He had played a show at Cardiff St Davids Hall the previous night.

A police spokeswoman said there would be no need for an inquest or any further inquiries into the death following the results of the post-mortem.

She confirmed: "As soon as it (the death) was deemed to be non-suspicious, the matter was handed over to the coroner.”

The body can now be flown back to the USA for the star’s funeral.

Pitney scored 22 UK Top 40 hits during his long career. His first hit was ‘(I Wanna) Love My Life Away’ in 1961, but he took another 28 years to score a Number One, when his duet with Marc Almond on ‘Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart’ went all the way to the top.

Almond said of his old singing colleague upon hearing of his death: “It was an honour to have worked with him. He was a great, unique singer of great, unique songs."

Other massive hits for Pitney included ’24 Hours From Tulsa’ and ‘I’m Gonna Be Strong’.