Ex-wife of Ferry dies on holiday in Ireland
SINGER Bryan Ferry’s exwife has died while on holiday in Ireland, it has emerged.
The star’s former wife, Lucy Birley, died suddenly while in Ireland, where her family had previously spent a lot of time.
It is the second time tragedy has struck her family in Ireland as her father, Patrick Helmore – Mr Ferry’s father-in-law – was killed in a fire in his home in Connemara, Co. Galway, 22 years ago.
Former model Ms Birley, 58, died on Monday ‘surrounded by her beloved dogs, Daisy, Peg and Daphne’ – but it is not clear if she was with her second husband Robin, who announced her death yesterday.
Ferry, who is due to perform at Trinity College in Dublin on Friday, paid tribute to Ms Birley, saying: ‘I’m much saddened and shocked by this tragic news of Lucy’s death.
‘The family request that our privacy be respected during this difficult time.’
The former Roxy Music frontman and his ex-wife had four sons during their 21-year relationship before they divorced in 2003.
Mr Ferry, 72, said Lucy was his musical inspiration and she appeared on the cover of his Roxy Music’s eighth and final album, Avalon.
After their divorce she married again in 2006 after finding love with Robin Birley, son of Annabel’s nightclub owner Mark Birley.
A statement on behalf of Ms Birley’s husband and her children said yesterday: ‘On Monday, Lucy Birley (nee Helmore) passed away whilst on holiday in Ireland, surrounded by her beloved dogs, Daisy, Peg and Daphne.
‘Her husband Robin, and her sons – Otis, Isaac, Tara and Merlin – are understandably devastated and request that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.’
No further comment will be given on the circumstances of her death, a family spokesman said.
Ms Birley’s father, Patrick Helmore, was killed in a fire which destroyed his home in Connemara on December 12 1997.
A faulty electric heater was believed to be the most likely cause of the fire, which killed the 73-yearold in the 100-year-old Crumlin Lodge, Inverin, an inquest in Galway heard. The retired insurance broker, had been living alone in the two-storey house in Ireland when he perished in the fire.
Ferry was a regular visitor to the wooden lodge during the early 1980s and the picturesque wooden house had featured on one of Roxy Music’s bestselling albums, Avalon.
It was not known last night where in Ireland Mrs Birley died.
Daughter of the late Lloyd’s underwriter Mr Helmore, Lucy was a successful model before she met the rock star.
The musician was the son of a miner and she was the daughter of a man who made millions in the City.
They got together after Ferry split with girlfriend Jerry Hall after she met Mick Jagger.
In her last major interview in 2011 Ms Birley told the Guardian: ‘I was very surprised when I met Bryan that he was interested in going out with me.
‘It seemed slightly surreal I suppose’.
They married in 1982 and she toured the world with her husband: ‘It was exhilarating,’ she said, adding: ‘I learned a lot from Bryan and met a lot of other artists I probably never would have met otherwise.
‘I was very young and I was bowled over by the whole idea of touring and recording, and the world being open to you.’
Ms Birley’s death came a week after friend Annabelle Nielson, 49, collapsed and died in the UK.
Both were part of a London set that included supermodel Kate Moss.
‘I’m much saddened and shocked’