Strictly Come Dancing icon dies after 'short illness' as family share heartache
Share:
A Strictly Come Dancing legend has died. Laurence Holloway, a former musical director on Strictly and talk show Parkinson, has died aged 86, his family have confirmed. The English composer, who started off as a pianist in dance bands, died after a “short illness” on Thursday, his daughter Abigail Holloway told the PA news agency.
During his career, the jazz musician worked with the singer Engelbert Humperdinck, Sir Tom Jones, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Mel Torme, Bob Monkhouse, Barry Humphries and Ronnie Corbett along with his late wife Marion Montgomery. American jazz singer Montgomery, who had lived in England for more than 30 years, became a household name in the 1960s and in the 1970s when she was a resident singer on Sir Michael Parkinson’s chat show, where Holloway was later a musical director.
Montgomery died in Bray, Berkshire, aged 67 in 2002. Holloway was the musical director for the first three seasons of Strictly Come Dancing, which began in 2004. In 2013, Holloway became an MBE for services to music. At his investiture ceremony, he told the late Queen of the time he played piano for her and Princess Margaret at Buckingham Palace, and recorded nursery rhymes for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday.
