Reg Presley

Reg Presley (born Reginald Maurice Ball, 12 June 1941) is an English singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer with prominent 1960s rock and roll band The Troggs, whose best known hit was "Wild Thing", though their only UK number one single was the follow-up "With A Girl Like You". He was born at 17 Belle Vue Road, Andover, Hampshire.

His most famous composition is "Love Is All Around". When this song was covered by Wet Wet Wet in 1994, it stayed at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for fifteen weeks.

In 1990 Presley began to develop an interest in the paranormal, in particular crop circles. Presley used his royalties from the Wet Wet Wet cover of "Love Is All Around" to fund his research into the area and outlined his findings in a book, Wild Things They Don't Tell Us, which was published in October 2002.

On 14 December 2011 Presley was hospitalized in Winchester, England, with what was suspected to be a stroke. He was also suffering from pneumonia and fluid around the heart. Presley suffered a major stroke about a year before. Reg's wife said he first began to feel bad while performing in Germany 3 December 2011 and had got progressively worse. "Doctors think he has had another stroke. He's not very well and I have no idea how long he'll be in hospital," she said. On 24 January 2012 Presley announced he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and therefore decided to retire from music.

External links

• Profile at AllMusic.com
• Reg Presley discography at Discogs