THE Nolan sisters have enjoyed an illustrious career as a chart topping girl group. However, the family have been struck by tragedy as Linda and Anne are each battling cancer. Who are the Nolan sisters? The Nolans were a chart topping Irish girlband former of sisters Maureen, Coleen, Denise, Linda and Bernie. They were originally […]
THE Nolan sisters have enjoyed an illustrious career as a chart topping girl group.
However, the family have been struck by tragedy as Linda and Anne are each battling cancer.
The Nolans were a chart topping Irish girlband former of sisters Maureen, Coleen, Denise, Linda and Bernie.
They were originally part of family band, The Nolan Family, which included their parents and two brothers.
However, the girls broke away and released albums with just the five of them.
In March, Linda and Anne both received devastating cancer diagnoses within days of each other.
Linda’s incurable cancer is in her liver, her third recurrence following breast cancer in 2006, cellulitis and lymphoedema in her arm in 2007 and secondary cancer on her pelvis in 2017.
Anne’s breast cancer is stage three, the most serious being stage four, and it is the second time she has had to fight the disease.
Linda said: “Forget the Chemical Brothers, we’ve become the Chemo Sisters.”
The pop star duo showed the world how chemo has caused them to lose their famous big hair.
Their sister Bernie died from breast cancer in 2013.
Linda was widowed in 2007 when her husband of 23 years, the Nolans’ former tour manager Brian Hudson, died from liver failure after battling cancer.
The sisters have rallied, with Maureen moving in with Anne to look after her and Linda relocating to sister Denise’s house.
But Linda says: “I haven’t even given Anne a hug. Because now we’re frightened because our immune system is low that if we got something infectious or, God forbid, Covid, then it would be a real battle to stay alive.”
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on August 20, Linda urged the public to get checked if something doesn’t seem right.
“I understand people are scared going into a hospital and people think there’s going to be COVID patients there, but to be fair I think hospitals are the safest place,” she said.
“And you know, cancer won’t wait.
“So if you find something you really need to go to your GP, and then you’ll be referred to the correct department at the hosptial.
“But, you know, they have noticed that there is a decline in people coming forward, but honestly I’ve had all my treatment through COVID, so has Anne, and we’ve been really well looked after by our local hospital.”
The Nolans are one of the world’s biggest girl groups, and one of the first Irish bands to achieve international success.
The girl group had seven international hits between 1979 and 1982.
These included I’m In the Mood for Dancing, Gotta Pull Myself Together, Who’s Gonna Rock You, Attention to Me and Chemistry.
In 1963, the band made their debut as The Singing Nolans.
It consisted of mother Maureen and father Tommy, brothers Tommy and Brian, sisters Denise, Maureen, Linda, Anne and Bernie.
Loose women star Coleen revealed that their father – Tommy Nolan – would often sexually and physically abuse the sisters and their mum.
In Coleen’s 2008 autobiography she lifted the lid on her sister’s suffering and wrote: “He was a bully and a drunk. I knew he’d made mum’s life hell and sexually abused Anne. His behaviour repulsed me.”
The Loose Women panellist laid the relationship with her dad Tommy Nolan bare in her during an episode of In Therapy.
She said: “He was a horrible drunk, he’d just become very aggressive and scary… I couldn’t bear it.”
The girls had two brothers – Tommy and Brian.
The boys performed as part of The Nolan Family with their sisters in Blackpool’s music halls from a young age.
Brian suffered his own tragedy. He lost his wife Linzie after just two years of being married. Linzie had been dating Brian for years and was a part of the family.
At age 26, she was diagnosed with a virus that killed her very suddenly.
