One of the top names in the world of British showbusiness, singer Cilla Black, has died at 72, it was announced Sunday by close associates in London.

She died at her Spanish home in Estepona on the Costa del Sol, Spanish police confirmed.

A career spanning more than half a century started when the one-time cloakroom girl was plucked from obscurity into the limelight during the 1960s when the so-called Mersey Beat era took the world by storm.

It was the era that spawned the most famous group ever to emerge from Britain, the Beatles.

Like the Beatles, Cilla Black - real name Priscilla Maria Veronica White - played to packed out audiences in the clubs of Liverpool, including the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool, still a major attraction for tourists from around the world.

She went on to become the highest paid female entertainer in Britain, hosting top television shows such as Blind Date and Surprise, Surprise. She was also the first female to be given her own peak-time chat show on BBC Television.

Her life was recently the subject of a major television drama series, simply called Cilla, which won praise from the star.

According to reports from Spain, it appears her death is a result of natural causes, though the authorities have ordered an autopsy.

It is understood Black only arrived in Spain a few days ago, after flying from Britain with one of her three sons.

Her big break came in the early 1960s when she was befriended at the Cavern Club by members of the Beatles, going on to produce several top 10 hit records, including 'You're My World' and 'Anyone Who Had A heart'.

Black was left devastated in 1999 when her teenage sweetheart Bobby Willis, who she was married in the 1960s, died of lung cancer. He was her manager for most of her career.

Cilla Black was born in the tough Scotland Road area of Liverpool. Determined to get a foothold into the entertainment world she got a job as a cloakroom girl in the Cavern Club. Her impromptu singing impressed the Beatles and she was spotted by a local promoter who decided to give her a break. She would eventually be signed by the man who steered the Beatles to global success, the manager Brian Epstein.

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