The Spinners ham it up for the media during a Rhythm & Blues Foundation news conference in New York, Thursday, Feb. 27, 1997. The group, featuring from left: John Edwards, Bobby Smith, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson and Billy Henderson, are to receive the foundation's lifetime achievement honors during ceremonies in New York, Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - March 18, 2013 (WPVI) -- A former lead singer of the soul music group "The Spinners" has died in Orlando.
A statement released Monday by the manager of the rhythm and blues group said Bobbie Smith passed away Saturday morning due to complications from pneumonia and influenza. He was 76.
The statement says Smith had been diagnosed with lung cancer in November.
Smith was the group's original lead singer and was the voice on their first hit "That's What Girls Are Made For." Also called the "Detroit Spinners," the group earned nearly a dozen gold records and half a dozen Grammy award nominations.
The group's biggest hits in the 1970s included: "I'll Be Around," ''Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" and "Games People Play."
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