Singer Distel dies, aged 71

FRENCH singer Sacha Distel died in the south of France yesterday, aged 71. He had been ill for some time.

At the height of his popularity Distel had his own British TV series.

The son of a Russian immigrant, he was born in Paris in 1933 and began studying piano at five. He took up guitar 10 years later and played with some of the world’s jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton.

He also appeared in numerous films and had a relationship with Brigitte Bardot in the early 1960s.