Jerome Evans, 65; Lead Singer for the Furys in Early 1960s

Jerome Evans, 65, the lead singer and frontman for the Furys, a popular rhythm and blues group in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, died Sunday night of a heart attack at Antelope Valley Hospital.

A native of Los Angeles, Evans started singing early, harmonizing with the radio when he was 3. By the time he was in his teens he was performing in amateur shows, and he and friends formed a group called the Cyclones in the mid-1950s.

The group had evolved into the Furys by the 1960s, when producer Jimmy McEachin heard them and took them into a studio to record “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart.” The group became well known around Los Angeles, appearing on local radio and television shows and recording a string of local hits.

After the Furys disbanded in the 1970s, Evans went on to sing with versions of the Coasters and the Drifters.