Ricky Valance, the first Welsh male singer to have a number one record, has died aged 84.

Born David Spencer in 1936 in Ynysddu, Valance worked in the mines at Nine Mile Point near Cwmfelinfach before joining the RAF.

A former lead soprano in his church choir as a boy, Valance began his musical career singing in clubs in the north of England in 1957 after leaving the military and was shortly signed by Columbia records.

He scored his Number One song ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ in 1960 – a fact commemorated in 2015 when Valance received a special award at a St David’s Day concert at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre.

Valance’s agent is reported to have said the singer had been diagnosed with dementia and had been in hospital since before the start of lockdown.

He released his final single in 2017 – a cover of ‘Welcome Home’ and a re-recorded version of his Number One hit song. The charity single raised money for the Royal Air Force Museum and RAF Association.

At the time of his passing, the singer had been living in Skegness, Lincolnshire, with wife Evelyn.

A previous version of this article wrongly said Valance was the first Welsh singer to have a number one. That honour of course goes to Dame Shirley Bassey, who scored a number one in 1959 with As I Love You.