Reuters:

Jamaican reggae pioneer Desmond Dekker, famed for the genre's first worldwide hit with "Israelites," has died of a heart attack at his home in England, the Jamaica Observer reported on Friday. He was 64.

The newspaper said the singer/songwriter, whose 1960s fame was eclipsed the following decade by Bob Marley, died on Wednesday.

Although his recording career had been on the wane for decades, Dekker remained a popular concert draw in Europe. He gave his last performance at Leeds University in England on May 11.

Dekker, born Desmond Dacres in the Jamaican capital of Kingston on July 16, 1941, was raised on a diet of such 1950s crooners as Nat "King" Cole and Jackie Wilson.