Idol star on losing her dad
SINCE shooting into stardom after Australian Idol, Kim Cooper transformed her life by turning down a music career to become her father’s carer.
The songstress moved to Townsville after signing with a record label but her music career was short-lived.
She became a full-time, live-in carer for her father John, who had been ill for years, moving south to Victoria in 2015.
Sadly, John died on Thursday from a pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid becomes trapped in the lungs.
“My father was the most incredible man I have ever known, and it has been my greatest joy and privilege to have cared for him the last five years,” Ms Cooper wrote in a tribute on Facebook.
“As a dear friend said to me so eloquently this week, ‘to know John was to love him’.
And dearly loved he was.
“By some miracle, I was allowed into ICU and was holding his hand, playing the Beatles and telling him how loved he was right ’til the very end,” Ms Cooper said.
Ms Cooper signed with a record label in Townsville and started working on an album after coming seventh on Australian Idol.
During the show she performed P!nk’s Family Portrait, Lady Gaga’s Just Dance and Foo Fighters’ Best of You.
She gave it up after just six months to become a Christian and attend Bible college, saying a higher power made her believe her dad’s health turn was a sign she needed to become his carer.
“I felt, deep in my heart, a calling to come home and care for him,” she told News Corp last year.
“Caring for Dad has helped develop me into a better, more well-rounded person.”