Giles Broadbent has died following a ‘short illness’ at the age of 51, his family and music group have announced.
The violinist, who was part of the quartet Stringfever alongside his family members, was married to former Blue Peter star Diane Louise Jordan.
In a joint statement, the band and family announced: ‘Although Giles had not been well recently, we as a family are still in shock at his passing. The band will be taking a break whilst we make funeral arrangements.’
The musician once described himself in three words as, ‘young at heart.’ His musical heroes were Roby Lakatos, Maxim Vengerov, and Nigel Broadbent, and his favourite thing about being part of Stringfever was the ‘buzz of performing live shows.’
Broadbent’s earliest musical memory was his dad teaching him how to play the violin at home, and he went on to form the string quartet band in 2003 – who toured venues around the globe for 18 years – with his brothers Ralph and Neal, and cousin Graham.
Alongside his brother Ralph, Broadbent studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and Graham set his sights on the Royal College.
Youngest brother Neal was due to study at the Guildhall School of Music before his brothers thought he ought to be their cellist.
Described as ‘the Rock Stars of classical music’ they play live shows all over the globe from the Opera House in Mumbai to the Beijing Music Festival in China.
Broadbent went on to lead the orchestras for several West End shows including Sunset Boulevard, Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady.
Radio presenter Diane, 63, and Broadbent married in 2007. Diane adopted her niece Justine at the age of two, after her sister – and Justine’s mother – died unexpectedly.
The Blue Peter and Songs of Praise presenter previously described her husband as a ‘magnificent, genius violinist’ and an ‘amazing guy’ in an interview on New Life Publishing.
They met in 2006 and married a year later, and Diane recalled it as a ‘whirlwind’ but she ‘just knew he was the one.’
‘We share similar values, even though we’re quite different people – I’m much more of an introvert and Giles loves the house to be busy and full of people. He’s also a musician, so he’s very expressive too,’ Diane joked in an interview last year with Sheer Luxe.
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