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Singer and actor Alvin Stardust has died at the age of 72 after a short illness, his manager has said.
The My Coo Ca Choo singer had recently been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and died at his West Sussex home with his wife, Julie Paton, and family around him.
His manager Andy Davies said: “Alvin and I had only started working together over the last couple of years because he and I believed that musically he still had a great deal to give and explore, and so we recorded an album that is a testament to an artist who gave his career to music.
“I may not have known him long but even in that short time he proved to be one of the most genuine and likeable men I’ve ever met. His passing is a huge and sad loss.”
Born in London, Stardust grew up in Mansfield and started playing guitar as a schoolboy. He met one of his biggest influences, Buddy Holly, at a gig in Doncaster and played backstage with the singer and his band the Crickets.
He signed his first record deal in 1961 as the frontman of Shane Fenton and the Fentones but the band struggled to get in the charts despite regular touring in Europe and the UK.
In 1973, he signed up with Magnet Records and took on the name that would make him famous – scoring hit after hit as Alvin Stardust.
His success continued into the 1980s with Pretend, I Feel Like Buddy Holly and I Won’t Run Away all making the top 10.
At the height of his fame in the mid-1970s, he appeared on TV as part of the Green Cross Code road safety campaign.
Turning to acting, he appeared in a string of musicals including playing the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.
He presented his own children’s show, It’s Stardust, on ITV and appeared on shows including Hollyoaks and Doctors.
Agencies/Canadajournal
