LOS ANGELES — Chuck Negron, the co-founder of Three Dog Night who sang lead vocals on hits such as “Joy to the World,” “One” and “Easy to Be Hard,” died on Feb. 2. He was 83.

According to Zach Farnum, the singer’s publicist, Negron died peacefully at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles and was surrounded by family members, Variety reported.

No cause of death was provided, but Farnum said that Negron was battling heart failure over the past year. He also suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to Deadline.

Negron co-founded Three Dog Night in 1967 with Danny Hutton and Cory Wells.

The group recorded 21 top-40 hits, recording songs penned by Hoyt Axton, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, Leo Sayer and Paul Williams, Variety reported.

“Joy to the World” was the No. 1 single of 1971. Written by Axton, the song’s opening line, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” leads into an anthem-like chorus of whimsy, nonsense and fun.

The group’s first million-seller was “One‚” written by Nilsson and sung by Negron. It peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

Negron also took lead vocals on “Old Fashioned Love Song” and “The Show Must Go On.”

“I like different songs for different reasons,” Negron told Rock Cellar in a 2018 interview. “I like ‘One’ because it was our first million-selling record, that one really put us in the game. It has a special place in my heart for other reasons too, it was done in one take, and at the time I was in awe of what came out of me, I couldn’t believe I’d done that.

“I loved ‘Joy to the World’ because it became a signature song for us, and it’s still a hit to this day.”

From 1969 through 1974, all seven of the group’s albums reached certified gold status.

Negron was dismissed from the band because of chronic drug issues, The Associated Press reported.

He addressed his heroin addiction in his 1999 book, “Three Dog Nightmare: The Chuck Negron Story.”

“I should be dead,” he wrote in the first sentence of the book.

Negron estimated that at one point, he was spending between $2,000 and $3,000 a day on drugs, Variety reported. He added that he spent “millions” on his addiction through the years.

After decades of anger and estrangement between Negron and Hutton, the two former bandmates met to bury the hatchet. Wells died in 2015.

“They’re making a documentary on us now, and the producer asked me … ‘Would you and Chuck ever get back together again?’" Hutton said in a December interview. “I just looked at her and said, ‘Absolutely not. No way.’ She said, ‘He would love to talk to you,’ and I said ‘Look, I don’t want to talk to him.’ A lot of hurt, all of that stuff.

“And then I finally said, all right, you know what? I’ll talk to him. So we went to his place – she had a whole crew there – and we hugged. And made up. It was wonderful. It was a great relief to get that burden … it’s not healthy to keep that anger. Anger always comes from hurt, I think.”

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