Dean Franklin, the former contestant on\u00a0The Voice\u00a0UK, has\u00a0died at the age of 36.<\/p>\n
The musician and street performer from London had revealed\u00a0in December that he had been diagnosed with\u00a0oesophageal\u00a0cancer, and yesterday (February 9), his mother Marie posted on social media to confirm he had passed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a family we are truly heartbroken to announce that our precious boy who fought so courageously over eight weeks and three days passed over at 21:39pm last night,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was surrounded by love. I have been getting [messages] from people this morning and\u00a0wanted as\u00a0his ma\u00a0to manifest my son\u2019s courage to share with you all,\u201d she added. \u201cAs a family we will post in more length when we are able. Until then please know that the love you gave to our\u00a0Dean\u00a0and\u00a0all of\u00a0us has meant so very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Franklin was a contestant\u00a0on\u00a0the 2016 season of\u00a0the television singing contest, where he was mentored by\u00a0Paloma Faith<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since revealing his diagnosis in December, Franklin had been updating his followers on his cancer journey, with Emma Willis, the presenter of\u00a0The Voice UK, commented on one post: \u201cSending you so much love Dean.\u201d<\/p>\n Faith also wrote: \u201cYou are so brave\u201d,\u00a0to which Franklin had replied: \u201cThank you for the love, P.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0holding onto every bit of it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n