Linda Nolan: Singing sister who helped drag Britain onto disco dance floor in 1980s dies aged 65

Linda went on to become a fixture of the stage musical scene, most notably owning the role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers for three years in the West End from 2000.

Yet despite her success, she lived a life repeatedly mired by hardship as she battled cancer and was forced to cope with the loss of her husband.

Linda was the sixth of eight children to Tommy and Maureen Nolan, born in Dublin on February 23 1959 in Dublin. 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 parents’ relentless efforts, which often led to late-night performances on school nights, soon steered the girls to international success.

Among their chart hits were Gotta Pull Myself Together, Don’t Make Waves and Attention To Me, and they earned their own BBC TV specials.

The Nolans sold 25 million albums globally but little of the profits ended up in the girls’ pockets, their father having failed to appreciate he could negotiate a bigger pay deal.

In 1979, Linda met Brian Hudson, a former musician, and they married in 1981 despite the reservations of her parents over the 13-year age gap and Brian’s history of two divorces. Brian also became The Nolans’ tour manager.

But when her sisters rejected Brian as their tour manager, Linda decided to strike out on a solo career.

For her, the early years were also 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.

“He was a Jekyll and Hyde,” Linda said. “But when he wasn’t drinking he was fabulous and he stopped drinking for many years before he died.”

At 15, she allegedly became a victim to the most sinister side of showbusiness when she claimed she was groped by Rolf Harris backstage at a concert in South Africa. The alleged assault left her feeling “dumbstruck” and “humiliated”, she said.

In 2006, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery to remove her left breast, two days before her 47th birthday. The following year, Brian – by then her husband of 26 years – succumbed to skin cancer.

The illness returned to haunt her life in 2013 when sister Bernie died from breast cancer.

The following year Linda was exposed to a new audience when she entered the world of reality television in the cast of Celebrity Big Brother. It followed reports of financial turmoil that dogged her for several years afterwards.

In 2015, she was cautioned by Blackpool Council after being accused of being a benefits cheat, repaying the authority £6,000.

At the end of March 2017, Linda said she was going to die in the same manner of her husband and sister – from an incurable cancer. She was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer after a fall, a decade after she was initially treated for the illness.

In July 2020, she and Coleen, Maureen and Anne appeared in The Nolans Go Cruising, a TV series that saw them take a journey through the Mediterranean. Months later, Linda appeared on TV to talk about her and Anne both being treated for cancer at the same time.

They went on to write Stronger Together, an account of their journey with cancer with no-holds-barred descriptions of their treatments, the side effects, how they coped with losing their hair and how they had emerged on the other side.