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Foundations lead singer Clem Curtis dies aged 76

Clem Curtis performing in August 2016
Clem Curtis performing in August last year. Photograph: Robin Burns/Rex/Shutterstock

The singer Clem Curtis, who was perhaps best known for his work with the band the Foundations, has died at the age of 76.

Curtis was the lead singer with the band in 1967 when it released its number one hit Baby, Now That I’ve Found You. It has been claimed that the song was the first by a multi-racial band to top the charts.

According to the BBC, his family confirmed he had died on Monday.

Curtis was born in Trinidad and moved to the UK as a teenager to pursue a career as a boxer. Afterwards, he started singing with the band, before going on to lead a solo career in the 1970s. Curtis also appeared in musicals in London’s West End.

Curtis’s wife told the BBC earlier this year: “Unfortunately he has been diagnosed with two cancers. Doctors cannot do anything about it.

“We’re spending time at home having our happy days together. It depends what his body and mind will decide to do.

“We had the prognosis about six months ago. Doctors said he will never walk, but he’s walking now.”

He had left the band before it released perhaps its best known song Build Me Up Buttercup.