It's been an emotional few days for fans of The Wanted following the heart-breaking death of Tom Parker. The singer died on Wednesday (March 30) aged 33 with his family by his side.
Tom's death came 17 months after he told fans the news that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour - stage four glioblastoma - in October 2020. Tom's diagnosis came shortly before he and his wife Kelsey, who married in July 2018 and welcomed their first child Aurelia in 2019, welcomed their second child, a son named Bodhi.
Kelsey announced the news of her husband's death in an Instagram post, telling his loyal fans and followers that their 'hearts are broken' at the loss of Tom who 'was the centre of our world' with an 'infectious smile and energetic presence.'
READ MORE: The Wanted singer Tom Parker's wife Kelsey sets up GoFundMe page in her late husband's honour
There has since been an outpouring of love and support for Kelsey and the couple's two young children as well as tributes to Tom, who shot to fame in 2009 following the release The Wanted's first single, All Time Low. The band - which also included bandmates Max George, Nathan Sykes, Siva Kaneswaran, and Jay McGuinness - scored two number one singles and a string of top 10 hits and albums before taking an indefinite hiatus in 2014.
But they delighted fans by announcing in September last year that they were reforming. They performed together for the first time in seven years at London's Royal Albert Hall for Stand Up To Cancer and The National Brain Appeal and just a matter of weeks ago the five-piece finished up a country-wide arena tour which saw Tom appear from a raised platform, sat on a throne, for two of the band's most popular tracks Glad You Came and Gold Forever.
The latest tribute came on Sunday night (April 3) when Tom was highlighted during an emotional Grammys memorial segment. The annual music awards ceremony was taking place in Las Vegas where many stars were honoured in the tributes tonight, including Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away last month.
A picture of Tom, from Bolton, was shown on screen during the segment alongside 'The Wanted', where Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr and Rachel Zegler sang a medley of Sondheim songs as they paid tribute to the stars that had been lost in the past year. And fans were emotional.
"I broke down seeing Tom Parker's name during the in memoriam at the #GRAMMYs. I'm so glad he was included. #tomparker #thewanted," @no_surprises tweeted.
@roxannemarie78 said: "Seeing @TomParker name on that #GRAMMYs Memoriam Really Had me @thewanted."
"Thank you for honouring @TomParker, he is greatly missed. @thewanted #GRAMMYs," @CAN1SAY commented.
@heskissv shared: "Seeing Tom Parker in the memorial screen hurt me more than I thought, I still can’t believe that happened #GRAMMYs."
"My goodness. What a beautiful in memoriam tribute to such beautiful musicians chills. Tom Parker, Taylor Hawkins, & Stephen Sondheim #RIP #GRAMMYs," @No_Paja_Mama added.
The tribute comes after Kelsey set up a GoFundMe page in his honour over the weekend. She shared the page on Saturday night, and said: "I am Kelsey Parker, very proud wife of Tom Parker, probably best known for being one fifth of UK boyband The Wanted, but to those who knew him he was my husband, a Daddy, son, brother and friend.
"As many of you know, Tom was diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2020 and on Wednesday 30th March 2022 he passed away peacefully with all of his closest friends and family by his side.
"Our hearts are truly broken, Tom was the centre of our world and we can't imagine life without him, but one of the biggest sources of comfort over the last 2 years has been the outpouring of love and support we’ve all received. We can’t thank everyone enough for holding Tom, myself and the children in your thoughts and prayers, for lighting candles and sharing beautiful messages of hope and condolence.
"We want to take everyone’s incredible love, support and generosity and turn our grief into something positive and to keep Tom’s memory alive forever. We politely request that instead of gifts and flowers, donations are made to this GoFundMe account with all proceeds eventually going to amazing causes in Tom’s name, to help others in need.
"We simply couldn’t have got through the last 2 years without the help and support we have received and if we can offer it back to others that would be the best way to honour Tom and make our two children, Aurelia and Bodhi proud. From the bottom of our hearts, a huge thank you. If love alone could have saved Tom, he would have lived forever…"
The page quickly smashed its £5,000 goal and at the time of writing more than £35,000 had been donated.
