Former Santa Clarita Valley resident Joe Cocker, a legendary singer, has died at the age of 70, according to CNN.

Joe Cocker Death

Cocker was best known for his cover of The Beatles ‘With A Litle Help From My Friends,’ according to numerous sources.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

SCV News Obituary

Joe Cocker, the British singer known for his bluesy voice, died in his home in Colorado after a battle with small cell lung cancer. He was 70.

Some of his most memorable performances included Woodstock, where his rendition of “With a Little Help from My Friends” became an instant classic. According to Billboard, the performance was “the highlight of the generation-defining festival, rivaled only by Jimi Hendrix’s electric version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The performance reached a new generation when it was the theme for the ABC television show “The Wonder Years.”

Cocker’s duet with Jennifer Warnes on 1982’s “Up Where We Belong” reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. “You Are So Beautiful” reached No. 5 on the Billboard charts in 1975.

Cocker and his wife Pam lived in the Valencia Summit before moving to Stevenson Ranch, where they lived until the Spring of 2012. They used their home in the Enclave section of Stevenson Ranch part-time and spent the rest of the time on their ranch in southwestern Colorado.

“I always found Joe to be an amiable, chatty guy,” said SCVTV’s Dave Caldwell, who was a neighbor of the Cockers. “He would go for walks and we would end up talking in the front yard about things neighbors talk about: kids, weather, landscaping, whatever. He and Pam hosted neighborhood Christmas parties. He was Joe. He wasn’t a world-famous rock star.”

According to a statement released by Sony Music, Joe Cocker’s career spanned 50 years. Born in Sheffield, England, his career began in 1964, recorded nearly 40 albums and toured throughout the world. He had dates scheduled in 2015.

In 2007 he was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen of England.

Paul McCartney released a statement on Reuters:

“It’s really sad to hear about Joe’s passing. He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and, like many people, I loved his singing I was especially pleased when he decided to cover With A Little Help From My Friends and I remember him and (producer) Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Savile Row and playing me what they’d recorded and it was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that.

“I knew him through the years as a good mate and I was so sad to hear that he had been ill and really sad to hear today that he had passed away. He was a great guy, a lovely guy who brought so much to the world and we’ll all miss him.”

Background And Update From CNN:

Legendary musician Joe Cocker died Monday after a battle with lung cancer, Sony Music said in a statement.

Cocker’s performing career spanned almost 50 years, from Woodstock, where he sang the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends,” to the digital-music era. He had tour dates scheduled well into 2015.

Cocker began as a singer in England at the same time as the Beatles, with whom he was often linked. He had a major success in the early 1970s with “Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” a live album and documentary film.

“Up Where We Belong,” his duet with Jennifer Warnes from the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman,” was Cocker’s biggest U.S. hit, topping the Billboard singles charts in 1982.

As a live performer he was also known for his distinctive spasmodic movements on stage. His moves, he said, were almost accidental.

“I never played organ or piano or guitar, so it was more out of frustration and me just trying to impersonate in a way,” Cocker told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times in 2012. “I did it subconsciously. People mistook for me being ill, like I had palsy. I’m not nearly so demonstrative now, but I still have my own way of feeling the rhythm.”

The singer told the Daily Mail in 2013 that by the 1970s his descent into drugs and alcohol had become so severe that he sometimes forgot the lyrics to songs.

“If I’d been stronger mentally, I could have turned away from temptation,” Cocker said. “But there was no rehab back in those days. Drugs were readily available, and I dived in head first. And once you get into that downward spiral, it’s hard to pull out of it. It took me years to get straight.”

He credited his wife, Pam, with helping him get sober.

“It was Pam who helped me get myself back together,” he said. “She made me think positively. I was very down on myself. She made me realize people still wanted to hear me sing, and convinced me I could escape the downward spiral.”

In 2012 he released the album, “Hard Knocks.” That year he talked to NPR about the project and his love of his life in Colorado — despite the harsh winters.

“I embrace the winter these days,” he said in the interview. “The best thing to do is get a big house. If you are going to have cabin fever, have a big cabin. I walk on a regular basis, I have a couple of dogs. The house tucks right into the mountains. I literally feel I have become a mountain man over these past couple of years.”

Photo courtesy of Joe Cocker’s Facebook page. CNN contributed to this report.