Fans of a singer who died earlier this week have paid tribute in a vigil. Tom Parker had been a part of popular boyband The Wanted and died on Wednesday, March 30, at the age of 33 after a battle with a brain tumour.
Fans held a vigil for the singer at 6pm on April 3 outside Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena. Tom, who grew up in Bolton, announced in October 2020 that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable grade 4 tumour.
Around 20 fans laid out candles and decorated a fence just outside the arena with balloons and flowers to pay tribute to the boyband member. Tom's death came after he performed at arena on March 11 as part of The Wanted's Greatest Hits tour.
Read more: The Wanted's Tom Parker dead at 33 from brain tumour
Organisers of the vigil, Daisy Peberdy and Shannon Wormall, said they were heartbroken by the news. Ms Peberdy, 25, who works as a social media manager and lives in Leicester, said: "Seeing him on tour, he only did the last two songs, and we all realised he was a lot sicker than we thought. Everyone could sense something was wrong.
"It was so horrible and heartbreaking when he passed away. He was so positive and fought it up until the end. So we wanted to hold this vigil to pay tribute to his memory."
Ms Wormall, 26, who lives in Grantham, added: "The outpouring of love though has been incredible and the fan group have been brought together. His wife set up a fundraising and it has already gone way over its target.
"The main thing is that his work raising awareness of brain tumours continues, and the fans are going to keep that going for him in his memory. I think he will live forever through his music and the charity work he did."
In November 2021, Tom said that the tumour was "stable". Tom held a charity concert in September last year at London's Royal Albert Hall in aid of Stand Up to Cancer Entitled 'Inside My Head'. It featured Becky Hill, McFly, Liam Payne and a first performance with The Wanted since 2014.
As reported by the Mirror the singer's diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour came while his wife was pregnant with their second child, with Tom leaving behind his wife Kelsey and their two young children. The band released their self-titled debut album in 2010 and went on to enjoy several hits including UK chart-topping singles All Time Low and Glad You Came.
In 2014, The Wanted announced they were taking some time apart so that each member could pursue personal endeavours. Before their split, The Wanted had amassed worldwide success, including two UK number one singles and nine top-10 singles, as well as four billboard 100 singles, selling more than 900,000 records, three platinum albums and two sold-out arena tours.
