British folk singer-songwriter Roger Whittaker - a big star during the 1960s and 1970s - has died at the age of 87.
He was born in Nairobi in March 1936, in what was then British Kenya to English parents.
His greatest hits include Durham Town, The Last Farewell, New World in the Morning, I Don't Belief in If Anymore and his 1982 version of Wind Beneath My Wings.
He sold nearly 50 million records during a career that took off in 1962 when the then 26-year-old began writing songs and singing in Welsh folk clubs while studying zoology, biochemistry and marine biology at the University of Bangor.
Whittaker had his first big breakthrough when he was asked to appear on an Ulster Television show called This and That.
He was renowned for his whistling skills, impressively exemplified in the tune Mexican Whistler which topped the charts in three different European countries.
Durham Town (The Leavin’) provided hmi a Top 20 hit in the UK in 1969. The song’s success took him by surprise, according to comments published on his website.
Having been born in Nairobi, the music of east Africa left a mark on his childhood.
"In over 30 years of singing and playing musical sounds, the wonderful drumming, and those marvellous, infectious rhythms, have played a great part in everything I have ever written and sung," he said.
Whittaker retired in 2012 and is survived by his wife, Natalie, whom he married nearly 60 years ago after three months’ courtship, and their five children: Emily, Lauren, Jessica, Guy, and Alexander.
