Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Emma Jones has died aged 32 after being diagnosed with cancer, her family have confirmed.
In a message shared to Facebook, her nearest and dearest wrote: “I’m sorry to have to tell you that Emma Jones has died.
“She died on Valentine’s Day after being diagnosed with multiple organ cancer. The doctor thinks it began as ovarian cancer and spread to other organs.”
The singer from Cumbria appeared on the 2015 series of the ITV show when she was 23 and blew both the judges and audience away with her rendition of opera classic Ave Maria at her first audition.
“Beautiful,” said judge Amanda Holden, of Miss Jones’ performance, which has since been viewed nearly five million times on YouTube.
While David Walliams urged her to believe in herself, telling the admittedly nervous contestant: “You should be confident Emma. Very few of us could ever sing like that.”
Jones would later describe auditioning for BGT as “the best day in my whole, entire life”.
Jones’ former partner, John Hastings, touched on this during a memorial held for her at Allonby’s Christ Church on May 1.
“Like everyone else in Cumbria, I was both proud and touched by her exploits on Britain’s Got Talent, when she overcame her nerves to wow the judges and viewers – the applause made her cry, but I knew these were good tears,” Mr Hastings said.
According to The Sun, he added: “It’s a great shame that we will never see her again, but we still have her performances online to cherish and fondly remember her by.”
