Tony Jackson, 63; Singer, Bass Player for the Searchers

Tony Jackson, 63, bass player and singer for the Searchers, a Liverpool, England, band best known for the 1964 song “Needles and Pins,” died Monday in a hospital in Nottingham, England. He had been ill for some time with ailments including arthritis and cirrhosis of the liver.

Jackson was lead singer on the band’s first two British hits, “Sweets for My Sweet” and “Sugar and Spice,” but played bass only on the enduring “Needles and Pins” and on another hit, “Don’t Throw Your Love Away.”

In 1964, the band toured the United States and appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Jackson quit the group that year. His follow-up band, Tony Jackson and the Vibrations, failed to achieve much success and Jackson drifted out of the music business.

Jackson was born in the Liverpool suburb of Dingwall. He became interested in rock music as a teenager and became inspired by the sound of “skiffle king” Lonnie Donegan.