Britain’s Got Talent star Dave Betton has died at the age of 82.
The singer performed on the show in 2020 with his son Dean, after being persuaded to take to the stage again a decade after retiring from the club circuit.
The father-son duo made it through to the later stages of the competition after receiving a standing ovation from the judges for their performance of Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life.
‘There are certain days I think what I need is a mug of hot chocolate,’ Simon Cowell told them on the show. ‘And you were that mug of hot chocolate. You made me feel good and I needed that.’
Dave was living in sheltered accomondation in Lytham in recent years. He died from sepsis after a brief illness.
Dean broke the news of his father’s death last month with a tribute on Facebook.
‘It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I have to let you all know that the legend that is Dave Betton sadly passed away after a very brief illness in the early hours of Wednesday morning surrounded by his loved ones,’ he wrote.
‘Myself, my brother Darren, our wives, his grandsons and granddaughters, great grandsons and great granddaughters, extended family and all his friends will miss him dearly and he will leave us with a huge void to fill.
‘For those that knew him, he lit up a room wherever he went and everyone instantly fell in love with him.
In a later post, Dean wrote about their memories of BGT and explained how he wanted his father to experience another burst of fame after retiring.
‘I always looked up to Dad and he inspired me to take up singing, quite late in the game. He was definitely a local legend in his time – he would pack out the clubs,’ Dean shared.
‘I wanted him to experience a big live TV audience, even though he’d retired, and when we got such a huge response on Britain’s Got Talent, I was made up.’
‘I felt so proud of him, he knocked them out. The tributes he has received this last week on my post about his death on Facebook has been phenomenal with over 400 messages.’
Dave began covering Rat Pack stars on stage as a teenager and by 1981 he and his wife Josie bought the Dorchester Hotel in Blackpool, where he began his professional career as a club singer.
During the eighties and nineties he became a well known name on the local club scene in Blackpool, and also performed overseas with tours in Australia and South Africa as well as taking to the stage in Las Vegas.
