R.I.P. Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate 1943-2015

Former Hot Chocolate frontman Errol Brown has passed away at the age of 71.

With Hot Chocolate, Brown had hits with You Sexy Thing, So You Win Again, Heaven Is In The Back Seat of My Cadillac and Brother Louie.

Errol battled liver cancer and perished from the disease at his home, his manager Phil Dale informed BBC News.

“Errol Brown MBE passed away in The Bahamas this morning with his wife Ginette and daughters Colette and Leonie by his side of liver cancer,” Dale said.

“Errol was a lover of life and obviously ‘music!’ I never went into his home, car or a hotel room without music playing.

“Errol was a ‘Gentle Man’ and was a personal friend of mine who will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him. His greatest legacy is that his music will live on!”

Since Hot Chocolate’s inception in 1969, the group has climbed the charts in over 50 countries with their singles.

Errol was born in Kingston, Jamaica, but he moved to the United Kingdom when he was just 12 years old.

His band Hot Chocolate took off after John Lennon gave the group a huge break by allowing them to record a reggae rendition of Give Peace a Chance, which was written by The Beatles star.

Hot Chocolate sent their demo recording of the tune to John on a whim and they couldn’t believe how he responded.

“We all laughed about it,” Errol recalled to BBC Breakfast in 2009. “Amazingly, a week later I got a call to say John Lennon approved it and wanted to sign the band to the Apple record label – and that’s how we began.”

Errol will be missed by a number of his peers and Chic musician Nile Rodgers has issued his condolences.

“We had some good times back in the day. #ErrolBrown RIP (sic),’ Nile wrote on Twitter.

Singer Beverley Knight also expressed her grief on the micro-blogging site.

“I am so gutted. Errol Brown was such a charismatic performer,’ she tweeted.