Andrew Lloyd Webber’s son Nicholas has died following a battle with stomach cancer. Nicholas’ family shared the news of his passing at 43 years old in a statement. Nicholas was the theater icon’s second child and oldest son. “I am shattered to have to announce that my beloved elder son Nick died a few hours ago in Basingstoke Hospital,” Andrew said in a statement to PEOPLE magazine on Saturday, March 25. “His whole family is gathered together and we are all totally bereft. Thank you for all your thoughts during this difficult time,” the 75 year old also said.
Nicholas was Andrew’s second child from his first marriage to Sarah Hugill. The pair also had an older daughter Imogen. The pair divorced in 1983, after 12 years of marriage. Find out more about Andrew’s late son here.
1. Nicholas was also a composer
Nicholas took after his dad in many ways. Most notably, Nicholas seemed to inherit his father’s musical ear, and he composed a number of different works of his own. His two most notable theatrical works were a 2016 adaptation of The Little Prince and 2017’s Fat Friends: The Musical.
2. He was a producer for many of his dad’s projects
Outside of his own compositions, Nicholas was also a record producer and many of his biggest projects involved his dad’s works. He was a producer on his dad’s 2021 album Symphonic Suites, which featured some of the composer’s pieces from Evita, Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard, per Discogs. He was also a producer for the Cinderella cast album from that same year.
3. He married Polly Wiltshire in 2018
Nick is survived by his wife Polly Wiltshire, who he wed in 2018. Polly also has a musical background, as she’s an incredibly talented viola player. She has performed on some of the pieces that her husband has produced and a wide array of different albums and musical theater performances over the years, per AllMusic.
4. He scored a number of different film projects
Outside of musicals, Nick has also been able to score a few different movies. Besides a few different shorts, he was also the composer for six episodes of the BBC drama Love, Lies and Records, and he composed the music for the movie The Last Bus, per IMDb.
5. Andrew missed the opening of ‘Bad Cinderella’ while his son was receiving treatment
After Nicholas had been hospitalized for cancer, his dad released a statement sharing that he wouldn’t be able to attend some of his opening performances to be with his son. “I am absolutely devastated to say that my eldest son Nick is critically ill. As my friends and family know, he has been fighting gastric cancer for the last 18 months and Nick is now hospitalised,” he told BroadwayWorld. “I therefore have not been able to attend the recent previews of Bad Cinderella and as things stand, I will not be able to cheer on its wonderful cast, crew and orchestra on Opening Night this Thursday.”