Doug Fieger, lead singer of Los Angeles outfit The Knack, has died aged 57, after battling lung cancer for six years.
The man behind the legendary track “My Sharona” – the band’s debut single, which hit number one on the US Billboard charts back in 1979 upon its release – had survived for many years despite suffering from the condition, his family said in a statement.
“Doug did not suffer. He is in a better place. And wherever he is, his love and music will continue to shower down upon all of us who remain in this mortal coil, forever,” said his brother Geoffrey Fieger and sister Beth Falkenstein.
Formed in 1977, the band’s debut album, Get The Knack, was recorded in 11 days for just AUS$20,000, and ended up selling over six million copies worldwide. The song was inspired after a then 26-year-old Fieger was rebuffed by a 17-year-old high school girl of the same name, the couple later dating for three years. “I always get it up for the touch of the younger kind,” the lyrics pointed out.
Rather interesting, director Quentin Tarantino’s request to use the song during a violent scene in Pulp Fiction was adamantly refused by the band, who deemed it highly inappropriate.