Darius Campbell Danesh’s girlfriend Lauren Cheek has opened up about his passing, revealing he died of an undiagnosed heart condition.
The former ‘Pop Idol’ star passed away in his apartment in Minnesota at the age of 41 last August, with his partner sharing his cause of death with The Sun.
“So many things could have taken him, but this (heart condition) did, and he died in his sleep,” she said. “His mum told me they only found out (about the condition) after they did the autopsy. His heart was twice the size it was supposed to be, which was fitting because that is genuinely how he was – he had so much love.”
The musician was also suffering from the effects of a broken neck injury following a car accident in 2010, when he was a passenger in a Porsche that wall at 70 mph after skidding on oil in Spain.
Although in pain, he refused an operation over concerns it would damage his vocal cords, with Cheek adding: “The autopsy also found he was living with a broken neck, but he refused to get help or complain about it.
“I think he used (Chloroethane) because he was in so much pain and he didn’t want to take pills, not even aspirin.”
The Scottish star, who was born in Glasgow and would have celebrated his 42nd birthday this week, released two albums – including the UK Top 10 ‘Drive In’ – following his stint on the TV show, and topped the UK charts with his debut single Colourblind.
In the years that followed, he became a regular of the theatre scene, appearing as Billy Flynn in the West End production of ‘Chicago’, the lead role of Sky Masterson in ‘Guys and Dolls’, and originated the role of Rhett Butler in Sir Trevor Nunn’s theatrical adaptation of ‘Gone with the Wind’.
