BATON ROUGE - S.J. Montalbano, who produced rock and roll hits from his home base in the capital city in the 1950s and 60s, has passed away. He was 84.

Friends and family said Montalbano, who also went by Sam Montel, spent his birthday in the hospital with an undisclosed ailment Monday. He passed away Tuesday night. 

One of Montel's last projects was a music collection of 60 hits he produced from 1958 to 1968 titled "You're Never Too Old to Rock 'N Roll." The album included songs from artists like John Fred and the Playboy Band, Lester Robertson, James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, and Dale & Grace.

Montalbano sat down with WBRZ's John Pastorek in 2019 to discuss the release.