Tributes paid to much-loved former pop idol David Cassidy

SINGER and TV presenter Coleen Nolan has told of how she “absolutely idolised” David Cassidy as she paid tribute to the teen heartthrob, who has died aged 67.

Cassidy was rushed to hospital last week and died on Tuesday surrounded by loved ones, with his family saying he had passed away “with joy in his heart” and “free from the pain that had gripped him for so long”.

Nolan said she and her sisters, who formed pop group The Nolans in the 1970s, were huge fans of Cassidy and went to see him perform back in the day.

She told ITV’s Lorraine: “I absolutely idolised him when we were kids, it was him and the Osmonds for us, and Linda was obsessed with Donny Osmond and Bernie was obsessed with David Cassidy, so there was always that battle.

“We went to see him in concert at the Manchester Arena in the day, and it was just incredible. It’s just tragic the way he ended up.”

Dozens of other stars in Hollywood and in the UK shared on social media how actor and musician Cassidy, who shot to fame in hit sitcom The Partridge Family, had touched their lives.

Actor and comic Dawn French shared a picture of a younger Cassidy on Twitter, along with the words: “I cherished you.”

Newsreader Kay Burley said that Cassidy was her “first love”, and stand-up comic Jenny Eclair said he was among those who “soaked up all

Icon: David Cassidy

the tears” for teenagers in the 1970s.

Cassidy invoked mass hysteria when he visited the UK in 1974 for a string of concert shows.

The 1970s teen heartthrob had the kind of fame that could be likened to modern sensations One Direction and Justin Bieber, but at a time long before social media and the internet could lend a helping hand.

He was armed with singing and acting talent and a handsomely androgynous face, and earned himself a huge teen following all over the world, from his home country to the UK and Australia and beyond.

In 2014, he was stopped three times for drink-driving, before confirming he was an alcoholic. In 2015 he was diagnosed with dementia. Three marriages ended in divorce and he leaves a daughter, Katie, by his second wife, and son, Beau, by another relationship.