LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US singer-songwriter Andrew Gold, famous for 1970s hits Lonely Boy and Thank You for Being a Friend, which was used as the theme music for the hit US TV show The Golden Girls, has died aged 59, his family said. Gold, whose other songs included Never Let Her Slip Away, was also a music producer, a respected session musician as well as a member of Linda Ronstadts band. Millions were familiar with Golds work after Thank You for Being a Friend was covered for the theme of the long-running Golden Girls. The bearded artist died in his sleep Friday at his home in Los Angeles, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer, said his sister Melani Gold Friedman. Andrew was so enormously talented it almost seemed effortless, Ronstadt told the Los Angeles Times, adding: He was a real cornerstone of those early records.