American soul singer FAYETTE PINKNEY has died of acute respiratory failure. She was 61.

Pinkney, who lent her voice to the theme song of hit 1970s TV dance show Soul Train in a track entitled T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia), died on Saturday (27Jun09) at the Abington Health Lansdale Hospital in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

She was an original member of the Three Degrees, who made the track a hit years after the group formed in the early 1960s.

Founding the trio with fellow members Shirley Porter and Linda Turner, Pinkney was the only constant in a string of singers who joined and left the group before she launched her own solo career in 1979.

After earning her undergraduate and masters degrees in psychology and human services respectively, Pinkney left her music career behind and became an education coordinator for the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She later counselled incoming patients at United Behavioral Health in Philadelphia.

Pinkney is survived by a brother, Nathaniel.