Why Linda Nolan was in Blackpool's showbusiness DNA

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.

"Linda was so warm. There was a huge family that worked Blood Brothers – she was so encouraging to younger cast members particularly. She really became friends with everyone. She was a star on stage and off and so generous."

Mr Knight said this warmth was part of her long standing relationship with the Grand, where the funeral of her sister Bernie took place after she too died of cancer in 2013.

He said: "She [Linda] is part of the Grand Theatre family - it was almost like her second home.

"She was here in summer seasons, and of course in Blood Brothers in 2004 and 2007, and most recently she was her for her one woman show.

"To see the whole family there was beautiful. This was really her adopted home."

Spotted by an agent from London at the Cliffs Hotel, where a blue plaque was unveiled last year, the girlband had a string of hits and became regulars on Top Of The Pops as well as other TV variety shows.

The Nolans went from playing social clubs in the town as Blackpool's answer to the Von Trapp family to eventually performing with Frank Sinatra in Vegas - their mum had a massive photo of "Ol' Blue Eyes" with the girls over her mantlepiece in their modest home in Waterloo Road.

Joan Humble, from the civic trust that commissioned the blue plaque, said it had to be at the hotel

"Blackpool is all about entertainment and the Nolan family year after year gave us entertainment," she added.

The girls even recorded a cheesy song that used to be played when Blackpool FC ran onto the pitch.

When the band went their separate ways, Nolan had a solo career at Maggie May's cabaret show, which ran on the Central Pier for nearly a decade.

Caroline Hall, curator of the town's new Showtown entertainment museum, said Nolan had been a big help when the museum was being set up.

She said: "We were really really lucky she was so generous with her time her memories and her stories, and because of that we have been able to showcase her time and experiences here, especially her Maggie May years."

Ms Hall added: "She was ill, but that didn't dominate our experience. It was joyful. We had the joy of sharing all the band did."

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