My apologies this story's a week late but didn't come across this till I saw the print article in the Los Angeles Times.

Walter Ward, lead vocalist of The Olympics, an R&B group best known for the 1958 smash hit novelty song 'Western Movies', has died. He was 66.

Walter Ward, 66; lead singer of group the Olympics, who did 'Western Movies'

Story, here (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-ward16dec16,1,694567.story?track=rss).

Los Angeles Times/LATimes.com-December 16, 2006