Singer and Actor Alvin Stardust has died at the age of 72 after a short illness, his manager announced earlier today.
Stardust had recently been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and died at home with his wife Julie and family around him.
The singer – real name Bernard Jewry – started out in the music business in the 1960s but became a huge star on the back of the 1970s glam rock craze.
Stardust, whose career spans over half a century, is best known for singles My Coo Ca Choo, Jealous Mind and I Feel Like Buddy Holly.
The former glam rock star had been due to release his first studio album in 30 years this autumn.
He recently announced the record, titled Alvin, was finished and would represent “a new and exciting departure” of which he was “immensely proud”.
Stardust was married three times. His second wife was the actress Liza Goddard, who said she had been “bowled over by his charm”.
Stardust was part of a Green Cross Code road safety campaign in 1976 that saw him instructing children to look both ways before they crossed the road.
DJ Tony Blackburn remembered the singer as “a great showman” who would be “sorely missed”. “Performing was his life,” added the veteran broadcaster.
“He had this bad boy image, but he was not like that at all,” Blackburn continued. “On stage he was brilliant, but off stage he was just an ordinary guy.”