Paul Cattermole, a founding member of the early-2000s British pop group S Club 7, died just weeks after the band announced a reunion tour. He was 46.
According to the BBC, the band and Cattermole’s family announced Friday that “it is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of our beloved son and brother Paul Cattermole.”
Cattermole was discovered dead at his home in Dorset, southwest England, on Thursday, according to police.
“While the exact cause of death is unknown at this time, Dorset Police has confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances,” they said.
The announcement comes only a few weeks after the band announced a reunion tour.
S Club 7 members said on social media that they were “truly devastated by the passing of our brother Paul.” There are no words to express our collective grief and loss.”
“We were so fortunate to have had him in our lives, and we are grateful for the incredible memories we have,” the band said.
S Club 7 was formed in 1998 by Simon Fuller, the music mogul behind the Spice Girls, and was launched through a TV show about a pop band in which the members played fictionalized versions of themselves, similar to The Monkees.
S Club 7 had a string of upbeat UK hits, including “Don’t Stop Movin’,” the bubblegum pop classic “Reach,” and the ballad “Never Had a Dream Come True,” which also charted in the US.
According to the BBC, they had 11 top ten singles in the United Kingdom, including four number ones, and sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. They also received two Brit Awards, the UK’s highest pop music honor.
The group performed at a Buckingham Palace concert in 2002 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 50th year on the throne.
Cattermole left the band the same year, and his bandmates dropped the number from their name, according to the BBC.
“It had gotten to the point where things were being handled so badly that I had to go,” he explained to the Guardian in 2019.
According to the BBC, all seven S Club members reunited in 2014, and Cattermole starred in a stage production of The Rocky Horror Show the following year.
But he claims he never saw much of the money his band made, and in 2018 he sold his Brit Award statuette – won for best newcomer in 2000 – on eBay after struggling to find work due to a back injury.
S Club 7’s original members announced a 25th-anniversary tour in February, which will begin in October.
