Argentina's 'Elvis', singer Sandro, dies aged 64

Singer Sandro, who was called Argentina's Elvis Presley, died on Monday aged 64, after a career spanning over four decades, in which he helped promote Latino music to a world audience.

Doctor Claudio Burgos from the Italian Hospital in the Argentine city of Mendoza said that Sandro died from an infection after a heart and lung transplant surgery.

The singer, whose real name was Roberto Sanchez, began his career in the 1960s as a Latin American version of Elvis Presley, complete with gyrating hips, but moved on to become a ballad singer and one of Latin America's most popular musicians.

Winner of a Latin Grammy for career achievement in 2005, Sandro recorded more than 50 albums, and acted in a string of movies. He was the first Latino singer to play at New York's Madison Square Garden in the 1970s.

He had been struggling with his health since undergoing a transplant surgery in November because of a chronic lung disease, which he blamed on smoking.