R.I.P.: Songwriter-Singer Alan O’Day Was 72

Alan O'Day

Songwriter/Singer Alan O’Day passed away Friday from brain cancer.

He was 72.

O’Day was best known for writing and singing "Undercover Angel," an American #1 hit in 1977.

He has also written songs for several other notable performers, such as 1974's Helen Reddy #1 hit "Angie Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' #3 hit "Rock And Roll Heaven".

O'Day went on to score another winner as a singer, this time in Australia. His "Skinny Girls" rose to number one in 1980. The following year he and Tatsuro Yamashita collaborated on "Your Eyes," which Yamashita released to popular acclaim in Japan. Among the other artists who have recorded his songs are Cher, Three Dog Night, and Mel Carter.

"If there's a Rock n Roll Heven well U know they got one hell of a band". My friend Alan O'Days song. The band just got better my friend.RIP
— Diane Warren (@Diane_Warren) May 18, 2013

In the 1980s he moved from pop music to television, co-writing over 100 songs for the Saturday morning Muppet Babies series, and in the 1990s he wrote and performed music on the National Geographic series Really Wild Animals.