Will Young has broken his silence on the death of Darius Campbell Danesh with a touching tribute posted on Instagram.
The 41-year-old singer-songwriter and actor was found dead in his US apartment last week, his family announced in a statement on Tuesday. Will - the winner of the first series of Pop Idol in 2001 - described Darius as “driven, courageous and gentle.”
The pair competed together in the series, which saw Darius place third behind Will and runner-up Gareth Gates. Will shared a photo of the pair from their Pop Idol days, smiling and with their arms around one another.
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A caption to the post read: “For the past few days my thoughts have been with Darius' family and will continue to be so. I found this picture a while ago taken during Pop Idol.
“If there was ever an example of not giving up on your dreams then Darius is top of the pile. Driven, courageous and gentle.
“My love goes to his family at this time.”
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Darius’ family said he was “found unresponsive in bed in his apartment room in Rochester, Minnesota, on August 11 and was pronounced dead in the afternoon by the local medical examiners’ office.” Local police confirmed there were “no signs of intent or suspicious circumstances,” with the cause of his death unknown at this stage, the family added.
Former Pop Idol judges Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman, and singer Gareth Gates also paid tribute to Darius following the news. Scottish actor Gerard Butler said he was "devastated" by the loss of his "dear friend."
Darius' debut single, Colourblind, was released in July 2002 and went straight to number one, marking the start of a run of top 10 releases. Since his death the song has re-entered music charts and on Wednesday morning was in top spot on the iTunes download chart.
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