Peter Sarstedt, singer of Where Do You Go To My Lovely? dies aged 75

The singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt has died at the age of 75 said his family.

He had been diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy for six years, a family statement said.

His closest family were "with him to the last" and that many would miss his songs and his music, the statement added.

Where do you go to my Lovely? Remained at number one in the UK singles charts in February 1969 and stayed there for four weeks. It was number one in many other countries and won the Ivor Novello best song composition.

The music of where do you go to my Lovely? has been described as "a faux European waltz tune" while the lyrics are about a beautiful young girl called Marie-Claire who grows up on the poverty-stricken backstreets of Naples. However, she leaves it all behind to join the jet set group and live in Paris.

The identity of the woman remains shrouded in mystery with many believing it is about Italian movie actress Sophia Loren. However, it's believed that Sarstedt wrote the song about a girl he'd met in Vienna during the Sixties. "We'd fallen madly in love. Everything looked beautiful for us until, in the summer of '65 she tragically died in a hotel fire," the songwriter told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"It took me a year to recover and I found myself in Copenhagen waiting for her."

The song is also known for the number of French references including Pierre Balmain, Sacha Distel, the Sorbonne, and Boulevard Saint-Michel.

Sarstedt was described in the New Musical Express the "Most original talent to emerge in decades... intense... sincere... top British singer... lyrical quality of his compositions coupled with the hypnotic spell he casts on his audiences have ensured a long run of success for this engaging man. You can be assured of non-stop dynamic entertainment... make sure you are there".