Dexys Midnight Runners founding member Andy Leek has died aged 66 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.

He died on November 3 aged 66 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. 

Andy famously left the band just as his track Geno was reaching number one.

‘I really hated being famous all of a sudden,’ Leek told Record Mirror at the time, expressing that fame shouldn’t impact his value as an artist​.

He later pursued a solo career and had success with the the song Say Something, which hit number one in Lebanon during the civil war. 

Dexys Midnight Runners original member ᴅᴇᴀᴅ: Andy Leek has pᴀssed away aged 66 following long battle with Parkinson’s disease

In 2008, Andy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of just 49.

He married his longtime partner Deborah Smith Lawrence on October 30 before he pᴀssed away on November 3.

Sharing news of his death on Facebook, Deborah said: ‘The poet Mary Oliver wrote ‘Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable’.

‘And the unimaginable has happened. My beautiful Andy left us on Sunday November 3.

‘Mercifully he was held safe at Goscote Hospice, which is the most peaceful place I have known in my entire life.’

‘He received truly compᴀssionate and loving care from people there. I was with him, by his side in those most fragile last moments and he died as he lived, courageously.’

Deborah went onto say Andy was a ‘phenomenal’ person, who lived with Parkinson’s disease for almost 20 years.

She continued: ‘He was by turns strong and gentle, funny and vulnerable, freedom-loving, fiercely creative, pᴀssionate and intelligent.

‘Yet always so immensely loving, generous and authentic. His response to his diagnosis? To play music and to craft song. The album Waking Up the World was written in that maelstrom.

‘I am grateful beyond words for the team at Derby who are exemplary in every way.

‘Fiona, Caroline, Clare, Suzanne, Louise, Rob, Kaanthan.

‘All of you, I pray you know how much your care meant to us both and that Andy loved you all. As people in our world hear the news, they tell me how much they loved him.

‘He was a real character and they were inspired by the way he faced down his condition with consummate grace and grit.

‘Naturally they tell me they are listening to his music and this he would treasure.’

Deborah also shared that she and Andy had originally planned to tie the knot at Christmas, but instead were married just days before his death. 

‘We were together for 35 years and being the bohemian souls we are, felt no need for the convention of marriage,’ she continued.

‘Yet recently we wanted to wed and we were planning a Christmas Wedding. Tragically this was not to be and we were married on October 30 at Walsall Manor.

‘I cannot convey how bittersweet this is, to have married and to have lost the love of my life within one week.

‘Equally I have no words to convey the shock and the sorrow I feel.

‘Yet I have the enduring love and a lifetime of the most amazing memories of being with such an exquisite man.

‘My soulmate, my husband and my best friend.

‘Andy’s incredible talent and musical legacy as a poet, songwriter, musician and a world class singer will endure.

‘It’s the album Eternity Beckons that touches me most right now. This magic is his gift to us all so please do as he bids, listen with an open mind and an open heart.

‘God Bless You my darling. I am heartbroken but honoured to have been your woman, your best friend and your wife.’