Jazz Singer Acker Bilk Dies Aged 85 Jazz singer and clarinettist Acker Bilk has died at the age of 85. The musician, who lived in Pensford, Somerset, died on Sunday afternoon at Bath's Royal United Hospital, his manager Pamela Sutton said. Bilk was the first UK act to top the US charts in the 1960s. He was known for performing in a flamboyant waistcoat and bowler hat. Mrs Sutton paid tribute to a man she knew for 45 years, saying: "He was a brilliant musician. He had a great sense of humour in every way. He just loved life. Bilk, who was made an MBE in the New Year Honours List of 2001, died with his wife Jean at his side. He had previously overcome throat cancer. Poet Ian McMillan tweeted: "Goodbye Acker Bilk, creator of one of the great earworms. That shore was strange, but memorable.