Singer Rose-Marie Kane has died suddenly aged 68, with friends believing it was from a heart attack.
A post on her official Facebook page announced her death. It read: “It is with heavy hearts and enormous great sadness, that we have to announce the sudden passing of our much loved Rose-Marie, in her beloved second home of Blackpool. Rest in Peace, dear heart.”
Her close friends paid tribute to the star, with pal Robin Elliott calling the singer a “massive” star on TV and actress Tricia Penrose saying she was “heartbroken” by the shocking news.
According to Robin, Rose-Marie was recording her 20th album just last Thursday. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, he said: “I just can’t believe this has happened. I’ve known her for a hell of a long time, I first met her in the ’90s. I worked on a TV show with her called Something for the Weekend for the BBC, and then over the years our paths crossed many times.”
He reminisced on how they worked together on a talent show with Louis Walsh in Blackpool in 2015. They also spent ‘a lot of time together’ in 2019 working on multiple projects. Robin was preparing to travel to Blackpool on June 28 to do a celebrity audience with her on the North Pier where she was set to perform and do a question and answer session.
“She had so much to look forward to,” he explained. “She was in the studio recording a new album, there was a TV documentary being made about her, life was good.” He added that her death was ‘so sudden’. He said: “It was so sudden, the last day I was with her she was in great form. There were no health issues at all. We think it was a heart attack.”
Tricia Penrose, famed for playing Gina Ward in ITV’s nostalgic series Heartbeat, has expressed her sorrow at the loss of her close friend Rose-Marie. “I am absolutely heartbroken to lose my dear friend Rose-Marie RIP my dear heart,” she shared. We were only together this time last week in Blackpool. I’m going to miss you so much xxx.”
