For Blackpool’s entertainment community Linda Nolan, 65, was part of the town’s showbusiness DNA.
One of the more effervescent members of the ’70s girlband The Nolans finally lost her long battle against cancer on Wednesday, with her family at her bedside in the seaside town’s hospital.
Blackpool’s wider showbusiness family was also united in grief, according to Adam Knight, chief executive of The Grand Theatre.
“It came as a huge shock. We knew Linda was very ill, of course, but she had always soldiered on.
“She was such a trouper, she had such a strength of character,” said Mr Knight, who recalled his time performing alongside her in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers in London’s West End, in which she played Mrs Johnstone.
