Searchers founder Tony Jackson dies

LONDON, UK (Daily Mail) - The former bass player with The Searchers, Tony Jackson, has died after suffering a long illness. Jackson, who was 63, died in the early hours of Monday morning after being taken to hospital in Nottingham with cirrhosis of the liver, reports the Daily Mail.

Jackson was one of the founding members of the British band and sung lead vocals on their first two singles, Sweets for My Sweet and Sugar and Spice.
But he left the band in 1964 and was replaced by Frank Allen.
The Searchers continue to tour today, performing at nostalgia concerts around Europe.

Jackson began his own band, Tony Jackson and the Vibrations, which broke up around 1967, briefly reforming in 1991.
Years of heavy drinking and health problems left Jackson extremely ill and he was no longer able to play his bass guitar, and only able to walk with the aid of a stick.
In 1997 he was jailed for 18 months for threatening a woman with an air pistol.

The Searchers band leader John McNally told the Daily Mail that Jackson had telephoned him just a week before his death to say he did not have long left to live but said he was still laughing and joking.