Tributes paid as Hot Chocolate singer Errol Brown dies at 71

You Sexy Thing star loses battle with liver cancer

Hot Chocolate frontman Errol Brown has died aged 71, his manager said.

The singer, famous for hits including You Sexy Thing and It Started With A Kiss, died at home in the Bahamas.

Phil Dale said he had suffered from liver cancer.

Brown, who is survived by his wife Ginette and two daughters, Colette and Leonie, was made an MBE in 2003.

Mr Dale said he was “a wonderful gentleman”.

He said: “There was always music around wherever he was. I’ve been with him in the middle of Australia and he has got an idea for a song and started writing.

“Errol was a lover of life and obviously music.

“I never went into his home, car or a hotel room without music playing. And it always played constantly in his dressing room before a concert. Errol was a gentle man and was a personal friend of mine who will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him. His greatest legacy is that his music will live on.”

Brown scored his first success with Hot Chocolate in 1970 with the top 10 track Love Is Life and went on to have more than 20 top 40 hits, many of which he wrote.

You Sexy Thing made it into the top 10 three times – helped along in 1997 by its use in the film The Full Monty – and the band had their only No 1 with So You Win Again in 1977.

It Started With A Kiss also charted three times.

The band, who got together in Brixton, south London, had fans in high places and in 1981 they played at a pre-wedding bash in Buckingham Palace for the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

Among those paying tribute was singer Beverley Knight who said: “I am so gutted. Errol Brown was such a charismatic performer”.

DJ Dave Haslam called him a “great performer”.

Picture: PA. Errol Brown was praised as a “great performer”.