Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eldest son has died (Picture: PA/Getty)
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has confirmed that his eldest son Nicholas has died.
The 75-year-old Oscar-winning composer shared the news on Twitter on Saturday, writing: ‘I am shattered to have to announce that my beloved elder son Nick died a few hours ago in Basingstoke Hospital.
‘His whole family is gathered together and we are all totally bereft. – ALW’
It comes after Lord Lloyd-Webber recently revealed that 43-year-old Nicholas, who was also a composer, had been moved to a hospice where he was ‘battling’ gastric cancer.
During his career, Nicholas scored music for an adaptation of The Little Prince.
He was also nominated for a Grammy for a musical theatre album alongside his father, Greg Wells, and David Zippel for Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cinderella.
The composer confirmed the devastating news following Nicholas’ gastric cancer battle (Picture: Pablo Cuadra/WireImage)
The devastating news follows a video posted to Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Instagram account on Thursday, in which the composer said his son was ‘over the worst of this first bout of pneumonia’ which he caught as a result of his ‘ghastly’ cancer.
Lord Lloyd-Webber – who wrote the music for hit shows such as Cats, The Phantom Of The Opera, and Jesus Christ Superstar – said in a video on Instagram: ‘We’re all here and the family here has gathered around and it was the right place for us all to be I think.’
In the video, he also thanked the people of Ukraine who sent him a Cats T-shirt following the announcement that his son was ‘critically ill’.
He said: ‘I know that they’ve been performing Cats there in a bunker, a makeshift production.
‘It’s incredibly moving… everything they’re going through they have been so incredibly thoughtful about dearest Nick.
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Nicholas, left, was recently moved to a hospice, where he was critically ill (Picture: Facebook)
‘I’m going to go and see Nick in a minute, and I’m going to pass on all of the fantastic wishes that I’ve had for him all the way from everywhere all around the world.’
Lord Lloyd-Webber also sent his best wishes ‘to the other families I have around the world in theatre’ on the opening night of his new show Bad Cinderella in New York.
He said: ‘I’m absolutely gutted not to be able to be there but my place is really here in England at the moment.’
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The Broadway show is a retooled version of London West End’s Cinderella, which takes its name from a key song in the show and has new songs, a leading lady, and a new title.
Lord Lloyd-Webber’s first wife, Sarah Hugill, is the mother of Nicholas. They also share a daughter, Imogen.
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The composer said he is ‘shattered’.