According to Pitchfork, the musician and artist Jack Lee from California passed away from colon cancer a month ago at the age of 71. Blondie, Paul Young, and Suzi Quatro, respectively, covered Lee’s songs while he was the leader of the power-pop group The Nerves in the 1970s.

Lee formed the Nerves in 1974 while he was living in San Francisco. Paul Collins on drums and Peter Case on bass joined him in the band. Lee played the guitar and sang for the Nerves. They moved to Los Angeles not long after the release of their self-titled EP in 1976, which contained four songs, and they disbanded the following year. One of Lee’s Nerves compositions, “Hanging On The Telephone,” however, went on to become a major hit for Blondie. Blondie recreated it for their breakthrough album Parallel Lines in 1978, and it was included on the album. Additionally, Lee was the author of the songs “You Are My Lover,” which Suzi Quatro released in 1979, and “Come Back and Stay,” which became a hit for the English musician Paul Young in 1983.

“He never gave up on his music until the very end.” “His guitar, right by his side,” Lee’s family said in a statement to Pitchfork. “He exhaled his songs like a sigh. They recounted the adventures of his life one after the other. Some people’s dreams do not come true. It is not going to be his.