He collaborated with Clive Westlake, Kenny Lynch and The Beatles producer George Martin on some songs.
On 23 October 1999, aged 57, Willis died of lung and liver cancer at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
His funeral service was held on 1 November at Saint Mary the Virgin Church in Denham, Buckinghamshire.
Willis married Cilla Black on 25 January 1969, his 27th birthday, at Marylebone Town Hall.
[2] To please her Catholic family, the couple were granted a dispensation to have their marriage blessed on 6 March 1969 at St Mary's Church in Liverpool's Woolton suburb.