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Barry White dies at 58
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul singer Barry White, whose rich bass crooning stirred romance in the hearts of a generation of fans, has died at the age of 58, his manager Ned Shankman says.
Shankman told reporters White, a two-time Grammy winner, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles where he had been battling kidney failure brought on by high blood pressure. He suffered a stroke in May.
Born in Galveston, Texas, White had been hoping to regain enough strength to undergo a kidney transplant, his daughter Shaheara White said in May.
With smoky ballads like "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" and "You're the First, The Last, My Everything," White provided the soundtrack to countless candlelight dinners and late-night trysts.
He also found success as a composer, a conductor of instrumental recordings and as the producer of the female vocal trio Love Unlimited.
"The Doctor of Love" achieved pop icon status as a romantic mentor in the hit TV series "Ally McBeal" and on the animated TV series "The Simpsons."
He reached the peak of his popularity in the mid-1970s, but won two Grammys in 2000 for best male and traditional R&B vocal performance for the song "Staying Power."
White's was the classic rags-to-riches tale -- raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Watts, he was exposed to gang violence on a daily basis. He burgled homes, stole cars, drank and fought. He became a father twice while still in his teens.
While serving a five-month jail stint in 1960 for stealing tires, he heard an Elvis Presley song that changed his life. He took the words of "It's Now or Never" to heart, and decided he had to change his life.