Darius Campbell Danesh, former Pop Idol star, dies aged 41

The former Pop Idol contestant and theatre star Darius Campbell Danesh has died at the age of 41, his family have announced.

The singer and actor was found dead in his apartment in Rochester, Minnesota, on 11 August. The cause of death is as yet unknown.

Following the show, Danesh turned down a record deal from judge Simon Cowell to work with producer Steve Lillywhite, who collaborated with him on his single Colourblind. The song reached number one in the UK, while his album Dive In reached the top 10.

He then went on to forge a successful stage career, appearing as Billy Flynn in Chicago, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind and Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl.

In 2003, Danesh also wrote a book about his time in the music industry titled Sink or Swim, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. In 2010, he won an ITV competition called Popstar to Operastar, during which he was trained to sing opera.

Danesh took on the principal role of toreador Escamillo in the production, for a one-off performance that was the first opera to be performed at the venue.

In an interview with Hello! magazine the same year, he revealed he had been in a car crash in Spain that left him with a broken neck. In 2017, he had another health scare when he accidentally drank dirty water from the River Thames, causing him to collapse into a near-fatal coma after contracting meningitis and swelling on the brain.

He lived in the US and in 2011 married the Canadian actor Natasha Henstridge at the San Ysidro ranch in Santa Barbara, California. They divorced a few years later.

Danesh became a supporter of cancer charities including Cancer Research UK after both his parents recovered from the disease. He also worked in Hollywood as a co-executive producer on the crime thriller Imperium starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2016.

Tributes were paid to the late star after news of his death, including from actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, who remembered his appearance on Emmy-winning comedy series The Kumars at No. 42.