She was a beacon of hope and resilience

Linda Nolan, who has died aged 65 after a 20-year battle with breast cancer, was propelled to fame with her sisters in the mid-1970s as an original member of The Nolans, one of the first all-girl pop groups...

- By Kat Hopps and Matt Nixson

Linda Nolan, a founder member of the pioneering girl group who blazed a trail for bands like the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud, has died at the age of 65 after a long battle with breast cancer.

The Nolans were the first Irish act to sell more than a million records, eventually shifting 30 times that number around the world during a 40-year career.

Best known for hits such as Gotta Pull Myself Together, Attention to Me and the disco classic I'm In The Mood For Dancing, the group - featuring, in various line-ups, Linda with Coleen, Maureen, Bernie, Denise and Anne - cut a swathe through pop in the 1970s and 1980s to become one of the most successful girl groups ever.

But behind the glitter and the gladrags, there was darkness too.

In later life, Linda would reveal that as a girl she witnessed her father Tommy, who masterminded their early career, drunkenly beating their mother, Maureen. The eldest of the sisters, Anne, later bravely disclosed in 2008 that their father had abused her from the age of 11.

"Part of me cried, I'm ashamed to say, because he didn't do it to me and I didn't think he loved me enough," Linda once said, adding: "He was a Jekyll and Hyde, but when he wasn't drinking he was fabulous and he stopped drinking for many years before he died."

Linda passed away in hospital in Blackpool yesterday at 10.20am with her sisters Anne, 74, Denise, 72, Maureen, 70, and Coleen, 59 - the youngest Nolan, Bernie, died aged 52 in 2013, also from breast cancer - by her side at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Having spoken candidly about her fight with cancer at every opportunity - including after the loss of her beloved hair during chemo - Linda helped to support millions of other patients.