Bernie Wilson, a baritone member of the rhythm and blues group that produced the 1972 hit If You Don’t Know Me by Now, has died.

Mr Wilson, 64, of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, died early on Sunday in New Jersey, following a stroke and a heart attack, his cousin Faith Peace-Mazzccua said.

Philadelphia International Records, the former record company for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, said Mr Wilson’s death leaves Lloyd Parks as the sole surviving member of the group’s line-up at the time. The line-up also featured Teddy Pendergrass and Lawrence Brown.

The group produced a string of R&B hits in the 1970s and helped define the Sound of Philadelphia.

If You Don’t Know Me by Now topped the R&B charts and made the top five on the pop charts. The hits that followed included I Miss You, Bad Luck, Wake Up Everybody, and the dance track The Love I Lost, which has been credited as one of the first disco records, according to an All Music Guide biography on the Billboard website.

“He left home at 16 as a pauper and came back home a millionaire,” Ms Peace-Mazzccua said.

She said her cousin kept performing until a few years ago and hoped to return and sing gospel music.