Dexys Midnight Runners’ Andy Leek Dies at 66 Just Days After Marrying
Andy Leek, one of the founding members of the band Dexys Midnight Runners, has passed away. He was only 66 years old and died after a tough, lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was set to marry his longtime partner Deborah Smith Lawrence on Christmas but the two decided to wed on October 30, just days before he passed away on November 3, 2024.
Lawrence shared an emotional post on Facebook that read, in part, “The poet Mary Oliver wrote ‘Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.’ And the unimaginable has happened. My beautiful Andy left us on Sunday November 3. Mercifully he was held safe at Goscote Hospice, which is the most peaceful place I have known in my entire life. He received truly compassionate and loving care from people there.”
She continued, “I was with him, by his side, in those most fragile last moments and he died as he lived, courageously. He was by turns strong and gentle, funny and vulnerable, freedom-loving, fiercely creative, passionate and intelligent. Yet always so immensely loving, generous and authentic.” She added that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease almost twenty years ago, in 2008, and shared, “His response to his diagnosis? To play music and to craft song. The album Waking Up the World was written in that maelstrom.”
Lawrence added that they had been together for 35 years and felt no need for marriage, but recently, with his health getting worse, they wanted to plan a wedding. She shared, “I cannot convey how bittersweet this is, to have married and to have lost the love of my life within one week. Equally I have no words to convey the shock and the sorrow I feel. Yet I have the enduring love and a lifetime of the most amazing memories of being with such an exquisite man. My soulmate, my husband and my best friend. Andy’s incredible talent and musical legacy as a poet, songwriter, musician and a world class singer will endure. It’s the album Eternity Beckons that touches me most right now.”
Dexys Midnight Runners are best known for their songs “Come On Eileen” and “Geno.” Leek performed in the band in the ’70s and ’80s as the pianist. He soon left to pursue a career as a solo singer-songwriter and is known for his song “Say Something.” His final album was released in 2013, and around that time he also began posting old music with lyrics on YouTube for fans to enjoy.
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