NEW YORK (W.Zevon Fans Website) - Warren Zevon, the US singer-songwriter who worked with REM,
Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, has died of lung cancer aged 56. Zevon, who released his latest album
The Wind only two weeks ago, died on Sunday afternoon in the United States.
During a 30-year recording period he worked with artists such as Neil Young, Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and Bob Dylan. He was also the musical director for the famous vocal duo The Everly Brothers during the 1970s.
Zevon was born in Chicago on January 24, 1947. He studied classical piano, but as a teenager decided not to devote his life to that music. Instead, he began playing guitar and writing songs, including "Like The Seasons," which was the B-side to the Turtles' 1967 Number One hit "Happy Together." He also was featured on the soundtrack to 1969's Midnight Cowboy with "He Quit Me."
That same year saw the release of his debut album, Wanted Dead Or Alive. The set didn't make a commercial impact, so he took a series of musical jobs, including bandleader for the Everly Brothers and commercial jinglewriter.
He returned from a lengthy sabbatical in Spain and released his self-titled second album in 1976, which Jackson Browne produced. Although largely unheard-of among the general public, Zevon was well-known within the Los Angeles music community, and the album includes guest appearances by Browne, Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the Eagles' Don Henley and Glenn Frey, and Bonnie Raitt. The album included "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," which Linda Ronstadt later covered with great success.
That was followed up with 1978's Excitable Boy, Zevon's biggest album. It featured his three biggest hits - "Werewolves Of London," "Lawyers, Guns And Money," and the title track - as well as guest appearances from Browne, Ronstadt, and Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Excitable Boy peaked at No 8 on the US Albums, while "Werewolves Of London" topped out at No 21 on the Hot 100 chart.
Danny Goldberg, chief executive of Artemis Records in New York which released his latest records, said: "I was told by his son that he passed away yesterday... in his apartment in West Hollywood, peacefully in his bed."
In an interview with US music magazine Billboard last year, Zevon joked he wanted to stay alive long enough to see the James Bond film Die Another Day, which was released at the end of last year.
Zevon had a reputation as a wild rock star in his younger days, but had been sober since for 18 years and had quit smoking five years ago. 
"I've already led two lives. I got to be a wild, crazy, Jim Morrison quasi-rock star and I got to be a sober dad for 18 years. I can't possibly complain," he said last year.
His new album features collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and the movie actor Billy Bob Thornton.
