John Whitehead, 55; R&B; Artist, Songwriter

John Whitehead, a prominent R&B; artist best known for the 1979 hit song “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now,” has died. He was 55.

Whitehead was shot to death in Philadelphia on Tuesday by two gunmen while working on a car with another man, police said. The killers fled.

Whitehead was shot in the neck and collapsed; the other man was shot in the buttocks and taken to a hospital.

Gene McFadden, who was Whitehead’s partner in the singing group McFadden and Whitehead, went to the city’s West Oak Lane neighborhood, where the shooting occurred, WPVI-TV Channel 6 reported.

The two men, both natives of Philadelphia, formed a group called the Epsilons when they were young and toured with Otis Redding in the 1960s after being discovered by him, according to their website.

The men wrote several hit songs performed by others in the 1970s, including “Back Stabbers,” “For the Love of Money,” “I’ll Always Love My Mama,” “Bad Luck,” “Wake Up Everybody,” “Where Are All My Friends,” “The More I Want” and “Cold, Cold World.”

“Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” went to No. 1 on the R&B; charts and reached No. 13 on the pop charts. The song became the unofficial anthem of the Philadelphia Phillies as they charged to the World Series championship in 1980 and the Philadelphia Eagles as they reached the Super Bowl in 1981.

Information on survivors and funeral services was not immediately available.