A founder of the New Orleans girl group The Dixie Cups dies

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the founding members of the New Orleans girl group The Dixie Cups, who had a No. 1 hit in 1964 with “Chapel of Love,” has died. Joan Marie Johnson was 72.

According to former bandmate Barbara Ann Hawkins, Johnson died of congestive heart failure Oct. 3 at a hospice in New Orleans.

Their “Chapel of Love,” written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, supplanted the Beatles’ “Love Me Do” as the No. 1 song on both the pop and R&B charts. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame later included it in the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll.

Johnson was only with the group for its first few years because she was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia.