11 November 2024, 16:49 | Updated: 11 November 2024, 16:51
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Dexys Midnight Runners star Andy Leek has died aged 66.
Leek died on November 3 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
He became a member of Dexys Midnight Runners following the release of their first single Dance Stance in 1979 before leaving just as their song, Geno, made it to number one.
The group is best known for the hit song Come On Eileen, which later reached number one in 1982.
Meanwhile, Leek went on to pursue a solo career, with his song Say Something going to number one in Lebanon during the civil war.
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Leek married his partner, Deborah Smith Lawrence, on October 30 – just four days before he died.
The couple had been together for 35 years and originally planned a Christmas wedding.
Announcing his death on Facebook, Ms Lawrence said: “The poet Mary Oliver wrote ‘Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.’
“And the unimaginable has happened.
“My beautiful Andy left us on Sunday 3rd November.
“Mercifully he was held safe at Goscote Hospice, which is the most peaceful place I have known in my entire life. He received truly compassionate and loving care from people there.
“I was with him, by his side in those most fragile last moments and he died as he lived, courageously.
“Andy had lived with Parkinson’s for the best part of two decades. He was a phenomenal person; by turns strong and gentle, funny and vulnerable, freedom-loving, fiercely creative, passionate and intelligent yet always so immensely loving, generous and authentic.”
She went on to say: “I cannot convey how bittersweet this is, to have married and to have lost the love of my life within one week.
“Equally I have no words to convey the shock and the sorrow I feel, yet I have the enduring love and a lifetime of the most amazing memories of being with such an exquisite man. My soulmate, my husband and my best friend.
“Andy’s incredible talent and musical legacy as a poet, songwriter, musician and a world class singer will endure.”