Shock over sudden death of city DJ, aged 35
TRIBUTES have been pouring in for much-loved Birmingham DJ Spencer Cormell, who has died suddenly at the age of 35.
Spencer appeared three times a week at the Bullring Tavern opposite Selfridges and was known for his sets at both Birmingham Pride and Manchester Pride.
But above and beyond his DJing, people are remembering him as a ‘lovely bloke’ who would do anything for anyone.
Devastated mum Gillian re-ceived a call in the early hours of Wednesday morning to say paramedics were at the home Spencer shared with his partner in Shard End.
He had been taken to hospital and, tragically, had died by the time she arrived. The family is waiting for a post-mortem examination to discover the cause of Spencer’s death.
“He’s going to be missed by thousands because he’s been on the gay scene since he was 17, having always DJed,” said Gillian, who has two other grown-up sons. “Everyone loved him because he was that kind of person.
“I’ve had no end of messages from people sending their condolences, which is lovely.
“We don’t know how it happened. I had a phone call in the early hours of the morning to say that paramedics were at the house.
“By the time I got there, he’d been taken to the hospital and had died.
“He wasn’t ill. I’d been with him earlier that day because we’d been shopping together. “We saw each without fail. “He was my rock, I don’t know how I’m going to cope without him. We were so close, he was like the daughter I never had!” Spencer’s friends used to jokingly call him Jeremy Kyle because they said he looked like the TV presenter. Gillian, who runs Top Munch cafe in Kitts Green, said Spencer would pop in every day to help her out. “Everyone at the café misses him,” said Gillian, from Chelmsley Wood. other every day “He’d come and clean, he’d do anything to help anyone out. He was an amazing person.”
Spencer had been DJing at the Bullring Tavern three times a week but did much more than that too.
“He used to go in three hours before his shift so he could cook for the customers for free, all off his own back,” his mum revealed. “When it was Halloween, he paid for everything just to please everyone – and he was just planning the Christmas celebrations too. “I can’t believe he’s gone.” Spencer’s friend Vicky Hancock has set up a JustGiving page for people to share their condolences and raise money towards giving Spencer the ‘send-off he deserves’.
To make a donation to the appeal, head to www.gofundme.com/spencer-cormell