The lead singer of Canadian R&B group Jacksoul, Haydain Neale, died Sunday following lung cancer. He was 39.

His death came a week before the launch of the new Jacksoul album, a record that was to mark the return of the group to the forefront.

The artist based in Toronto, had spent the last two years in rehabilitation after suffering a traffic accident. In August 2007, his trademark Vespa scooter collided with a car. .

The rehabilitation process had been a slow but steady. During the last six months, surrounded by his wife Michaela, his daughter Yasmin and her colleagues Jacksoul, he could finish the production of the album, a disc whose preparation had been started there nearly three years.

The singer had been diagnosed with lung cancer seven months ago. This news had never been made public.

Despite the difficulties he encountered, Neal has never lost his sense of humor and his love for music, his wife said in a statement.

“That guy just exuded what it is to be a really cool, down to earth, just amazing individual,” Toronto hip-hop MC Kardinal Offishall told The Canadian Press backstage at the SOCAN awards on Monday.

“Wow. Canada really lost something special.”

Family members and friends were by his side when he died.

`Through all these challenges, Haydain’s sense of humour and love of music were ever-present,” his wife Michaela said in the statement.

“Soulmate,” the new album from  Jacksoul will be in stores on December 1st.

According to the National Post, the profits from the sale of this album will go to Haydain Neale Family Trust.

Canadian Singer Haydain Neale Dies After Battle With Lung Cancer