Memorial service to remember Liverpool singer Colin Vearncombe

The Liverpool singer Colin Vearncombe will be remembered at a memorial service at the city's Anglican cathedral on Friday 19th February.

The musician, known as Black, died on 26th January, sixteen days after being involved in a car crash near Cork airport in Ireland.

Vearncombe, who was 53, had been driving from his home in Schull, west Cork, to catch a flight to Edinburgh for a songwriting trip.

He achieved success in the 1980s with hits including 'Sweetest Smile' and 'Wonderful Life', and continued to release albums over the next three decades, under his own name or as Black. Last year, he released a crowd-funded Black album, 'Blind Faith'.

Friends and fans of the singer-songwriter have been invited to come together to celebrate his life at the memorial service. A message on Vearncombe's website asks fans to, "join us to mourn, but more importantly to celebrate his life and music....we want to give him a wonderful send off."