The singer Linda Nolan has died from cancer at the age of 65, “with her loving siblings by her bedside”, according to her manager Dermot McNamara.
With The Nolans, he said, she was the first Irish act to sell more than a million records; the group’s hits included Gotta Pull Myself Together, Attention to Me and I’m in the Mood for Dancing. She also helped to raise more than €20 million for Breast Cancer Now, Irish Cancer Society and Samaritans, among other charities.
Nolan had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. In 2017 she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer, in her hip and pelvis. In 2020 it spread to her liver and, in 2023, to her brain.
She was admitted to hospital in Blackpool, in northern England, with double pneumonia at the weekend. Nolan’s manager said she went into a coma in the early hours of Tuesday, January 14th, and died peacefully on Wednesday morning.
Aoife was diagnosed with HIV in Australia in 2020: ‘He was unknowingly positive. We had no idea’
Conor Pope: What if dry January turned into dry forever? Eight ways life has changed since I stopped drinking in 2022
Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot: ‘It’s difficult to be the daughter of a sexual criminal and the daughter of an icon like my mum’
Cherry Tomato Bridge: The story behind Dublin’s whimsical new landmark
The Irish performer’s family home laid the groundwork for a career in show business spanning decades, where Linda joined Coleen, Maureen, Bernie, Denise and Anne to form pop’s premier sister group.
The Nolans released I’m in the Mood for Dancing, their most enduring hit, in 1979. At their height they toured with Frank Sinatra and were reported to have outsold The Beatles in Japan.
Despite her success, Linda Nolan lived a life repeatedly mired by hardship as she battled cancer and was forced to cope with the death of her husband.
She was born in Dublin, the sixth of eight children to Tommy and Maureen Nolan, on February 23rd, 1959. Her parents – both singers – were keen to turn their young family into a musical troupe, and Linda made her stage debut at the age of four. Their relentless efforts, which often led to late-night performances on school nights, soon steered the girls to international success.
For Nolan, these early years were soured by witnessing her abusive father drunkenly beat their mother. He was also said to have sexually abused Anne, his eldest daughter, from the age of 11.
At 15, Nolan allegedly became a victim to the most sinister side of 1970s show business when, she claimed, she was groped by Rolf Harris backstage at a concert in South Africa. Speaking of the alleged assault in 2014, she said it left her feeling “dumbstruck” and “humiliated”.
Nolan left the group that made her famous in 1983, but later re-formed with her sisters for several comeback performances.
In 2006 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery to remove her left breast, two days before her 47th birthday.
Her husband of 26 years, Brian Hudson, who had skin cancer, died in 2007.
.
– PA
