Grammy Award-winning singer Jack Jones, who sang the iconic Love Boat theme song, died at age 86 on Wednesday night.
His stepdaughter confirmed that the singer died at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage, California, after a two-year battle with leukaemia.
As well as The Love Boat theme, the crooner also had hits with Lollipops and Roses, Wives and Lovers and The Impossible Dream.
Jack previously told the Daily Express that the highlights of his career were winning his two Grammys, singing at the London Palladium and performing for the Queen Mother at the Royal Variety Performance in 1972.
He recalled in a 2016 interview: “I had to share a dressing room and it was funny seeing my tuxedo hanging next to what Liberace and Elton John were going to wear.
“My outfit was rather subdued next to theirs, as was my performance – Elton went out and did his part with a guy on a unicycle with a cake on his head.
“It was wonderful to meet the Queen Mother. She was a sweet woman. We talked very little but she said it was nice to have me there.”
Jack sang the opening theme for the TV series The Love Boat for all eight seasons from 1977 until 1985.
Jack made a cameo in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), as a lounge singer performing the theme song.
Jack credited the theme song for adding a new layer to his decades-long career. He told Las Vegas Magazine in 2016: “Because of The Love Boat theme, everything was great on ships after that.
“I did six weeks a year. They gave me the best suite on the ship, and it was the S.S. Norway. We just had a great time.”
He headlined shows in Las Vegas for seven decades, still performing in his 80s.
Known as a ladies’ man during his heyday, Jack was married six times, famously to actress Jill St John but their marriage lasted just a year.
He was also romantically linked to Straw Dogs actress Susan George.
Jack is survived by his wife Eleonara – whom he married in 2009 – his two daughters, two stepdaughters, and three grandchildren.
