Moving send-off for singer Black from mourners

A ceremony filled with music and warm words provided a moving send-off for an international singer known as ‘Black’ in his adopted home of Schull in West Cork.

Born in Liverpool, the performer Colin Vearncombe moved to the Mizen peninsula over a decade ago and his wife said the family felt “held and loved” there in their loss.

His wife Swedish opera singer Camilla Grieshel Vearncombe thanked family, friends and fans all over the world for “the love that has been poured over us this last three weeks”.

“I want to say thank you to Colin, for the beautiful years we shared together, to our three sons for being so strong and such beautiful people,” she said.

“I want to thank friends that have come to the fore to keep us all going through what’s happened here with the loss of Fergus [O’Farrell of the band Interference, who died on Tuesday]. We are in a kind of state of shock, but also a state of love and bliss,” she said.

Mourners packed the Church of the Holy Trinity where candles flickered in the windows and beneath the coffin of the ‘Wonderful Life’ singer, described as a ‘true artist’ who was fundamentally interested in people and their stories.