British television personality and singer Cilla Black has died in Spain aged 72, according to police.
Officers in Malaga said Priscilla White, her real name, had passed away in the Costa del Sol region.
The death was disovered overnight and appeared to be due to natural causes, but this had not yet been confirmed, police said.
Black was born in the northern English city of Liverpool and her instantly recognisable ‘scouse’ accent won over generations of music fans and television viewers.
She once worked as a cloakroom assistant in the city’s Cavern Club – birthplace of the band The Beatles – before setting out on her own career as an entertainer.
Beatles members John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote her first single. She went on to become a singing sensation for decades, notching up two number one singles in 1964.
Known as ‘Cilla’ to generations of Britons, Black later moved into television – hosting a string of prime-time shows.
