Linda Nolan’s enduring love story with husband Brian: A timeline of their relationship

16 January 2025, 11:56

The Nolan Sisters star and her husband Brian Hudson’s lives were tragically cut short by cancer.

Linda Nolan’s death aged 65 has the UK grieving the loss of a beloved cancer awareness campaigner, singer and actress.

The Nolan Sisters star died on Wednesday, January 16, surrounded by family, after she was admitted into Blackpool Victoria Hospital with double pneumonia earlier in the month.

• Linda Nolan dies aged 65, surrounded by family
• Nolan sisters Linda and Anne are both fighting cancer 7 years after sister Bernie’s death
• Linda Nolan issues devastating cancer update as treatment stops working

Linda, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, had been battling an incurable secondary breast cancer diagnosis since 2017.

But Linda’s own cancer struggle wasn’t the only inspiration for the ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’ singer’s tireless work raising money and awareness around the disease.

In 2007, the regular Loose Women guest panelist also lost her beloved husband Brian Hudson to cancer, and her sister Bernie in 2013.

As we continue to remember Linda following her death, here’s everything to know about Linda and Brian’s beautiful 26-year marriage story.

How did Linda Nolan and Brian Hudson meet?

Dublin-born Linda met her future husband Brian in 1979 when their paths crossed as a result of her Nolan Sisters fame.

Brian, a former musician, became the band's tour manager as they rose to great success in the late 70s, and he and Linda began dating soon after they met through his work with the band.

When did Linda Nolan and Brian Hudson get married?

Linda and Brian married on August 28, 1981.

Several of the 22-year-old bride’s famous sisters were bridesmaids at the ceremony, which took place in the family’s beloved home of Blackpool.

Linda and Brian’s marriage would eventually lead to the young star leaving her family’s band in 1983.

“When the other girls decided that my husband Brian wasn't right as their tour manager, I was devastated and opted to launch a solo career instead,” she told The Telegraph, the BBC reports.

The Nolans - I'm In the Mood for Dancing (Official Video)

When did Linda Nolan’s husband Brian die?

Brian Hudson died on September 21, 2007, as a result of skin cancer and liver failure. The former tour manager was 60 years old.

Brian’s death seriously affected Linda, who was still receiving treatment for her first breast cancer diagnosis at the time.

“We’d celebrated our silver wedding anniversary the year before, his death was the moment my world ended,” she told the Mirror in 2009.

Speaking with the paper ahead of returning to performing with her sisters in a reunion tour, Linda said she hadn’t worked for two years since Brian died in 2007 “because I simply haven’t felt able to.”

But returning to performing with her sisters had helped to raise her spirits.

“I still have regular counselling and recently my counsellor Jean said, ‘For the first time in two years there is a spark in your eyes and it’s because you have something to look forward to,’” Linda revealed.

“Now I’m just really looking forward to getting out there on stage and putting the last few years behind me. And I hope it will also show other women who have been through a thoroughly miserable time that things can, slowly, get better.”

Did Linda Nolan remarry?

Linda’s enduring love for her husband of 26 years led the ‘Attention to Me’ singer star to doubt she was capable of finding another partner.

“I know my family are desperate for me to be happy again, it breaks their hearts as well as mine, but I just don't ever see it happening,” she told the Mirror in 2016.

In the same interview, Linda admitted: “I miss Brian every second of the day. I know some people find it difficult to understand that the grief is still that raw, but it will always be raw because somebody you love isn't with you. A little piece of me died with him.”

In 2024, Linda did jokingly suggest to Hello! that “if a George Clooney lookalike came along, it would be hard to resist,” but the star did not remarry following Brian’s death.