Willie Denson was an American singer and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. He wrote a 5 songs for the Shirelles, including "Mama Said," "Stop the Music," "The Things I Want to Hear (Pretty Words)," "Love Is a Swingin' Thing," and "Blue Holiday." In 2001, Willie won $3M in the Georgia lottery.

He died on 1 July 2006 after a long battle with lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

, at age 69.