COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Rev. John "Bootsie" Wilson, 69, a former lead singer and last surviving member of the Philadelphia doo-wop and soul group the Silhouettes, died Sept. 21.

Mr. Wilson, who was battling cancer and a kidney ailment, died at his home in Spartanburg, S.C., said his wife, Pauline.

The Philadelphia native joined the Silhouettes in 1961, three years after their smash hit "Get a Job." The doo-wop classic, with the group's original lead vocalist, Bill Horton, ranked No. 1 for 13 consecutive weeks in 1958 and was among the first rhythm-and-blues songs to cross over and become No. 1 on the pop charts. It also introduced the signature phrase "sha-na-na."

Ten years later, Mr. Wilson recorded the song with the group, rebranded as the New Silhouettes, on the album The Original and New Silhouettes - '58/68 Get A Job.

Other notable recordings by the group with Mr. Wilson included "Move On Over (To Another Land)" in 1962.

Its 1963 single "Rent Man" was a hit in Philadelphia, and its 1968 recording "Not Me Baby" - which Mr. Wilson called his favorite in an interview this year - went on to become a 1970s dance hit in Britain, said music historian Charlie Horner of Classic Urban Harmony of Somerset, N.J.

Mr. Wilson and Richard Lewis, an original member of the Silhouettes who wrote "Get a Job," were friends before Mr. Wilson officially joined the group. He sang with Lewis in 1957 and with the group at other times, Mr. Wilson told Lewis' wife, Elaine, in a February interview published online at www.thesilhouettes.org.

Elaine Lewis said Mr. Wilson cried when he listened to the old songs during a visit to her Philadelphia home.

In the interview, he recalled growing up in a musical family, with uncles who played with Max Roach and Maynard Ferguson. "I sang with the Philadelphia Glee Club when I was young, and later on I did a lot of street singing; it was something many of us did," he said.

In 1968, he recorded a new version of "Get a Job" - although not because he had tired of singing the original, he said: "No, I just liked to improvise, I was always good at it, and it all fell into place. The new version sounded more modern."

Mr. Wilson moved to South Carolina in 1972 and became a minister two years later. He served as an African Methodist Episcopal pastor for three decades at eight churches, his wife said.

"I never gave up singing, though," he said in the February interview. "I still sing in the church, and everyone wonders where I got my voice."

The Philadelphia Daily News reported that Mr. Wilson is survived by his wife, Pauline Peake Wilson; five daughters, Renee A. Wilson, Michelle D. Wilson, Jonnika Wilson, Niketa S. Wilson, and Linda S. Herring; two stepdaughters, Sandra D. McWhirter and Terese A. McWhirter; three stepsons, James A. and Morris McWhirter and Ronald Bronz; a sister, Paulette Wilson McDowell; a half-sister, Bernadine Hurston; and 13 grandchildren.

Services were held Saturday in Spartanburg.