Motown legend Whitfield dies at 67

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Norman Whitfield, who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including "War" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," has died. He was 67.

A spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says Whitfield died there Tuesday. He suffered from complications of diabetes and had recently emerged from a coma, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Whitfield was a longtime Motown producer who during the 1960s and '70s injected rock and psychedelic touches into the label's soul music. Many of his biggest hits were co-written with Barrett Strong, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.

The two won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for "Car Wash."