Britain’s Got Talent star dies on the age of 51

Britain’s Got Talent star Will Read has died at the age of 51.

The musician died at his home in Macclesfield on August 7 with his friend and brother by his side following a battle with cancer.

Will famously performed alongside judge David Walliams in the ITV show’s final in 2012, as part of the comedy act The Showbears.

The group famously stole the show with their sparkly sailor suits, with David also dressed in one himself when he took to the stage in the final.

Read later joined Gloria Estefan’s band on her 2013 European tour, travelling to countries including Belgium and Switzerland. 

Friends of Will shared their tributes to him on Facebook, with poses including: Sleep peacefully Will, what a beautiful soul you were.;’

‘Such a great friend and a loveable character. You will be missed. Rest easy my friend;’

‘Rest in peace Will, you were a good friend going to miss you loads;’

‘It was great to meet Will, he was a very lovely fella and a hell of a musician;’

The singer’s obituary notice read: ‘Will aged 51 years of Macclesfield, peacefully passed away on Wednesday 7th August 2024.

‘Dearly loved son of Kate, much loved brother of Tom, cherished brother in law of Marianne and fabulous uncle of Jimmy and Liam.

‘Will was an accomplished musician excelling in percussion, drum and vocals.

‘He toured with Gloria Estefan and crusied the world as a musical director in his sucessful career.

‘He will be greatly missed by all his family, many friends and colleagues.’

Will previously shared he’d been diagnosed with cancer in 2023, and despite originally going into remission, he shared in September that his condition was terminal.

He wrote: ‘First of all let me apologise, as this was not the way I envisioned my cancer journey panning out. Even though it’s not great news, I feel that it’s only right to keep on being honest, and updating you all, after the incredible support you have all given me so far…

‘As most of you know, I have been spending the last few months having treatment for cancer, and it did seem to be going well, with my oncologist hoping to put it into complete remission. 

‘My first round of radiotherapy and chemotherapy were really effective in significantly reducing the size of the tumour, and after an exploratory operation, the surgeon could only find scar tissue remaining.

‘Unfortunately, my latest scans have shown that the tumour is growing again, quite rapidly, and it is now too close to my coccyx for them to be able to remove it safely. This makes the tumour inoperable and therefore non-curative. (They don’t say ‘terminal’ anymore…)

‘The tumour now no longer responds to radiotherapy, and although chemotherapy may give me a bit more time, I need to have a stoma operation first, to give the treatment the best chance of being effective. 

‘Chemotherapy has about a 50% chance of being effective (with my type of cancer) and, as I have to have a stoma operation first, there will be a three month delay before I can begin it.

‘Without the chemotherapy, I’m being given timescales in months, rather than years. Even with the treatment, if it’s effective, it’s only going to add a few more months…

‘I’m definitely going to go ahead and have the stoma operation, and see how well I recover from that, before I make any further decisions. Quality of life will be the major factor when making this decision.

‘Knowing that whatever happens, my time is limited, I have requested early retirement from work, so that I can spend as much time with family and friends as possible.

‘I have known about this diagnosis for a couple of weeks, and I’m sorry that I’ve not informed you all sooner. Basically I needed a little time to get my head around the situation, to talk to my nearest and dearest, and to make some important decisions.

‘I know that news like this is incredibly difficult to read, and I’ve really agonised over whether to write it, and then how to word it, continuously. 

‘I definitely feel that it’s important to continue to document my journey, but I also want to protect the incredible people around me.

‘I still intend on making the most of the time I have left. Luckily I don’t have much of a ‘bucket list’, as I’ve been fortunate enough to achieve many of my life goals and ambitions already. 

‘Don’t worry though, I’m sure I can think of a few more hijinks to keep y’all entertained for a few months yet… ❤️’

His last update was shared on his Facebook page in June, and said: ‘I had a bit of a bad night, well more the early hours of this morning really.

‘I started bleeding really heavily at 5am and couldn’t stop it pouring out, even taking my new anti bleed tablets. The bleeding was giving me lots of pain too. (Which is new…)

‘I phoned the District Nurses and phoned my fabulous neighbour Mike, and left a message. 

‘Mike rang me back and came straight over so I had company, as I really thought my time might finally be up again, and I’m not going alone!!

‘The district nurses administered some of my emergency medication. Mainly Midazolam and Anti Anxiety meds. 

‘The meds kicked in, (within a few mins) and the bleeding slowed down to almost stopping. It has now seemingly stopped completely.

‘I have to say all three of the district nurses I saw were kind, knowledgeable and caring. I was very impressed. ❤️

‘I’ve had my bloods taken again for another count and possible trip to the transfusion place… Other than that I appear to be on the mend again. 

‘The best thing about today is that the medical professionals saw the extent of the bleeding and I feel vindicated. (I always got the impression that most of them thought I was exaggerating the amount of blood.)

‘Anyway it seems that the drugs and nurses did the trick again and I’ll be around to annoy you for a few days more…’

The Showbears were eliminated from BGT in the second semi-final, but in the final, they made a sensational return as David took to the stage.

The hilarious performance sparked a flurry of red buzzers from judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Simon Cowell.

David left Britain’s Got Talent in 2022, two weeks after he was caught calling an elderly contestant a ‘c***’ during a break in filming.

He was also heard disparaging a female contestant, calling her a ‘slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t’.

Comedian Clare Harrison McCartney later claimed these comments were about her and branded Walliams a ‘sad misogynist’, but producers denied the remarks were aimed at her.

Bruno Tonioli later took over from him as a judge on the talent show, signing a big-money deal.

David went onto open legal proceedings against BGT’s production company Fremantle, after his remarks were made public.

The former Little Britain star is said to have claimed in court documents that producers ‘recorded, transcribed and retained’ all his conversations during his decade-long stint and that he had no idea his microphone was ‘kept on and recording’ throughout the entire day of filming.  

In November, David agreed to a settlement which is said to be ‘way under’ the £10 million which he was seeking. MailOnline understood at the time that the sum was comfortably less than £5 million.

Fremantle had to accept that their security procedures had failed which allowed Walliams’ comments to be leaked to the Guardian, hence the decision to settle. 

Sources indicate that many of his other arguments ‘failed’ leading to a relatively modest settlement which was equivalent to around a year’s salary – roughly £1million.