Roy Jurgens on November 16th, 2015

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Legendary songwriter P.F. Sloan died at the age of 70 in his Los Angeles home on Sunday. Sloan had been battling pancreatic cancer.

Born Philip Gary Schlein in New York City in 1945, Sloan and his family moved west in 1957. At 13, Sloan had a life-altering moment when he met Elvis Presley for a spontaneous music lesson at a Hollywood music shop, and by the tender age of 16 he had joined the songwriting staff at the legendary Screen Gems.

In 1963, Sunset Strip maven Lou Adler took Sloan and his partner Steve Barri under his wing, using them as backup musicians for surf idols Jan and Dean, among others.

Adler then brought the duo into his publishing house, Trousdale, and label, Dunhill, where Sloan penned fabled hits such as Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man,” The Turtles’ “You Baby” and “Let Me Be,” Herman’s Hermits’ “A Must to Avoid” and “Hold On!,” The Searchers’ “Take Me For What I’m Worth.” “Eve of Destruction,” on which Sloan played guitar, hit No. 1 on the US Billboard and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1965.

Sloan also joined L.A.’s famed Wrecking Crew as a session guitarist where he wrote the opening hook to the Mama & Papas’ “California Dreamin.”

While achieving great success as a writer, solo success as a performer escaped him. Along with Barri, Sloan recorded as The Grass Roots, where they scored the hits “Let’s Live for Today” and “Where Were You When I Needed You.”

By the late ’60, Sloan had fallen out with Dunhill over business and legal disagreements. Over the next three decades he disappeared from the public eye due to various physical and mental ailments.

In 2005 Sloan re-emerged from self-imposed exile to record the album “Sailover” which featured contributions from Frank Black, Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams, Felix Cavaliere, Tom Petersson and Gary Tallent.

In 2014 Sloan released his memoir, “What’s Exactly The Matter With Me?” with S.E. Feinberg, as well as his last album, “My Beethoven.”