Home town funeral for Pitney

The funeral of singer Gene Pitney is to be held tomorrow in his US home town, it emerged today.

The 66-year-old will be buried in the Somers Centre Cemetery in Connecticut following a service at the local All Saints Church at 11am local time.

Pitney was found dead in his hotel room in Cardiff on Wednesday morning last week following a sell-out performance at the city’s St David’s Hall venue the previous night.

A post mortem revealed the father-of-three died of natural causes.

His body was flown from Heathrow to America on Saturday afternoon, the singer’s promoter Mark Howes said today.

He added: “His family have taken the news as can be expected.

“They felt awful that he was so far away when it happened but they are glad that he is home now.”

The Small & Pietras Funeral Home in Rockville are handling arrangements for the funeral.

On it’s website, the funeral home say Pitney’s family has asked for donations in lieu of flowers to be made to the Connecticut Public Broadcasting or to the Humane Society of the United States.

The funeral home has also set up an online message board for fans to leave messages of condolence.