Adiós to a long list of legendary stars

2025 was a year that we said goodbye to some of the world's top celebrities, from Hollywood legends to iconic rock stars, and television personalities to sports champions and fashion giants. Some media sites have more than 200 celebrity deaths listed, some of whom were household names, others a little more obscure. Among these are some of the most influential people in the arts and entertainment world: it was a year when some wondered if it was ever going to stop

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It was not too far into the New Year that news surfaced of the death at the age of 78 of Grammy-nominated singer and model Marianne Faithful, who rose to prominence as a singer at the height of the Swinging Sixties. 2025 would see the deaths of several iconic British musicians from various illnesses, many of whom were in their 60s. These include Rick Buckler, the drummer of British punk/mod band The Jam, who died in February at the age of 69; Dave Ball, who, along with Marc Almond, formed British synth-pop duo Soft Cell, died at 66 in October; while Gary 'Mani' Mounfield, a founding member and bassist for Stone Roses, who later joined Primal Scream, died in November at 63.

The death of legendary Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne was announced in July, just days after his Back to the Beginning farewell concert in Birmingham, England. He had been ill with Parkinson's disease for some time, and he organised the farewell concert to say goodbye to his fans.

This trend did not stop here, because in December, Perry Bamonte, guitarist of another pioneering '80s band, The Cure, died at the age of 65 after a brief illness; and influential British rock and blues singer-songwriter Chris Rea died on 22 December. The singer, whose Driving Home for Christmas festive offering hit the charts once again after the news, was the third of his siblings to die within recent months.

Other legendary singer-songwriters to leave us over the last 12 months include Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, who had a heart attack in Beverly Hills in June at the age of 82; multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, 82, who led his band the Family Stone to make an indelible mark on music history, died of lung disease in June; and charismatic 81-year-old reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff in November.

However, it was not just the music industry that suffered great losses, because the world of film and television also lost some legendary stars. These include two iconic stars of British comedy: Patricia Routledge (96), best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC 1 series Keeping Up Appearances; and Prunella Scales (93), the actress who became a household name playing the domineering Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers; both died in October.

Hollywood also lost some of its most cherished stars, including Gene Hackman, found dead in his New Mexico home in February; Val Kilmer after a long battle with lung cancer in April, aged 65; acting legend Robert Redford, at the age of 89 at his home in the mountains of Utah; Diane Keaton, from pneumonia in October; and the French screen icon who left her mark in the Malaga province, actress Brigitte Bardot, who was 91 when she left us on 28 December.

To this list must be added professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, boxing legend George Foreman, revolutionary Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, British author Dame Jilly Cooper, American singer and pianist Roberta Flack, and top-charting vocalist of the late 1950s Connie Francis.