Andrew Lloyd Webber opens up about final moments with late son Nick

‘Nothing’s worse for a parent than the death of a child,’ Lloyd-Webber wrote

Andrew Lloyd Webber has opened up about his last moments with his eldest son Nick, who died last month aged 43.

Last month, the 75-year-old composer announced that Nick had died after being diagnosed with gastric cancer.

“I am shattered to have to announce that my beloved elder son Nick died a few hours ago in Basingstoke Hospital,” Lloyd-Webber wrote in a brief statement.

“His whole family is gathered together and we are all totally bereft – ALW.”

The news came shortly after Lloyd-Webber revealed that Nicholas was “critically ill” with gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer.

On Tuesday (18 April), Lloyd-Webber described the last moments he spent with his son in an essay for the New York Times.

“‘An apple a day, if well aimed, keeps the doctor away.’ I was speaking in PG Wodehouse quotes with my eldest son, Nick, who was in hospice, where he was being treated for cancer just days ago,” he wrote.

“’Here’s one for you,’ said Nick, laughing,” wrote Lloyd-Webber. “He had surmised that, after bulletins from New York, his father, as Wodehouse might have put it, was less than gruntled.

“‘Has anybody ever seen a dramatic critic in the daytime? Of course not. They come out after dark, up to no good.

“We hugged and said our goodbyes. The next day, my son died. Nothing’s worse for a parent than the death of a child.”

Nicholas was the eldest of Lloyd Webber’s five children and was known for his work scoring the BBC One series Love, Lies and Records, and the film The Last Bus.

He also scored music for the theatrical and symphonic adaptation of the novel The Little Prince in 2009 in a collaboration with James D Reid.