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Linda Nolan, singer and television personality, dies aged 65

The singer and TV personality Linda Nolan, who had chart success alongside her sisters in the pop vocal group the Nolans before her television career, has died aged 65. 

She had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Her agent, Dermot McNamara, said in a statement that she had died in Blackpool’s Victoria hospital “with her loving siblings by her bedside, ensuring she was embraced with love and comfort during her final moments”.

He heralded her as a “beacon of hope and resilience” and a “celebrated Irish pop legend, television personality, Guinness world record-holding West End star, Sunday Times bestselling author and Daily Mirror columnist”.

He also shared her family’s praise for the hospital care, saying it was “tireless and made it so much more bearable”.

Nolan had previously been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, receiving the all-clear in 2011.

She had three top 10 hits with the Nolans, including the enduring disco classic I’m in the Mood for Dancing, and was later a familiar face on ITV chatshow Loose Women. 

Nolan was born in Dublin in 1959 and raised in Blackpool, the sixth of eventually eight siblings. Seven of them formed a group with their parents, called the Singing Nolans, recording a debut album in 1972.

Linda, along with Anne, Denise, Maureen and Bernie, split off to form the Nolan Sisters in 1974, later changing their name to the Nolans. After Cliff Richard championed them on his TV show and they toured Europe with Frank Sinatra in 1975 – Linda later remembered him speaking to them “in a really bad Irish accent” – their stardom grew, and a 1978 covers album took them to the UK top five for the first time. 

They lost out to Black Lace in an attempt to become the UK’s 1979 Eurovision entry, but that year brought them their biggest hit: I’m in the Mood for Dancing, a hit across Europe and a No 1 in Japan, where they continued to foster a major fanbase. Gotta Pull Myself Together and Attention to Me were UK top 10 hits in the early 1980s.

Linda had a surprising guest spot alongside the Motörhead star Lemmy in 1981, singing with the blues rockers the Young & Moody Band. Lemmy had been impressed with the Nolans after meeting them on Top of the Pops – and Linda in particular, who made a jokily suggestive remark to Motörhead’s manager. “We didn’t expect that from a Nolan sister,” he later said. “We were in awe. You couldn’t mess with the Nolan sisters.” 

Linda left the Nolans in 1983, with their heyday behind them, though she reunited with Bernie, Coleen and Maureen in 2009 for a comeback album, I’m in the Mood Again.

After leaving the group for the first time, she segued into stage musicals, including a three-year West End stint in Blood Brothers. Her Guinness world record came for the most siblings performing the same role in a musical, with Bernie and Denise also playing the role of Mrs Johnstone.

Linda became a familiar face as reality TV blossomed in the 2000s, appearing on Come Dine With Me and Celebrity Big Brother, which led to appearances on Loose Women, where her sister Coleen had also found success.

She announced her cancer diagnosis on the show in 2017, supported by Coleen, saying: “I was devastated because I feel so bad for my family having to go through it all again. They’ve been amazing.”

Linda married her husband, Brian Hudson, in 1979. He later became her post-Nolans manager and died in 2007. Bernie died in 2013, also of cancer.

Linda alleged in 2014 that Rolf Harris had sexually assaulted her when she was 15, during a Nolans tour of South Africa.

She wrote a column in the Mirror until shortly before her death, including an entry last week. 

Story by Ben Beaumont-Thomas: The Guardian