Pop standards composer and arranger RAY ELLIS has lost his battle with liver cancer in California. He was 85.

Ellis penned hits like Splish Splash and Dream Lover for Bobby Darin and Connie Francis' Where The Boys Are and arranged R+B classics like Ben E. King's Spanish Harlem and Under The Boardwalk for The Drifters while working as a producer at Atlantic Records alongside the late Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler.

An in-demand collaborator throughout his career, Ellis also worked with Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Maurice Chevalier and Frankie Laine, among others.

He also created themes for hit cartoon TV series like Spider-Man and Fat Albert.

Ellis was still working in his early 80s, arranging classics for Barry Manilow and Bette Midler.