Hearthrob French crooner Sacha Distel dies

French crooner Sacha Distel, whose seductive good looks won him legions of female fans around the world, died yesterday, his record company said. He was 71.

Distel died at a family home near St Tropez in the south of France after having been ill for some time. A private funeral is expected tomorrow in the Paris region.

Although the cause of death was not immediately known, the singer was hit by thyroid cancer in 1970 and skin cancer a decade later.

"Sacha Distel had 'swing' under his skin," Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said in a tribute released by his office.

"For him, it was always The Good Life, the symbol of good humour and charm," Mr Raffarin said in reference to one of Distel's hit songs that won success on both sides of the Atlantic.

The epitome of the suave, sophisticated Frenchman, Distel enjoyed a career stretching over almost half a century during which he sang, danced and played jazz guitar with some of the biggest names in showbusiness.

Among the stars he worked with were Liza Minelli, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and Dionne Warwick. He is also credited with launching British singer Petula Clark in France.

In Britain, his television shows were such a hit he performed for Queen Elizabeth on three occasions. British fans lapped up the ageless singer in the role of lawyer Billy Flynn, the "silver-tongued prince of the courtroom", in the stage musical Chicago in London's West End.

"It's a very funny love story between England and me," Distel told one interviewer. "Ask any French person, and they will say I'm not at all a typical representative of the average Frenchman.

"Maybe in England I'm the Frenchman they wish more French people could be like."

Son of an engineer and a mother who trained in the Paris Conservatory, Distel was a composer of note too, penning The Good Life, a standard that was swiftly recorded by Tony Bennett and Distel's own hero - Frank Sinatra.

Distel enjoyed his biggest hit in Britain, where Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head topped the charts for 34 weeks, his record company Universal Music France said on its Web site.

Best known for his songs, Distel was also an outstanding jazz guitarist, winning the title best guitarist of the year from the respected Jazz Hot and Jazz Magazine.

"It's a terrible blow for music," said French singer Henri Salvador, credited with importing rock and roll into France.

"I taught him his first chords, which he learnt very quickly. He became an excellent guitarist, and excellent musician and a marvellous composer."