Dougie James dies: soul singer and father of Ryan Thomas dies unexpectedly at 72

Singer Dougie James has died at 72, his heartbroken brother confirmed today.

The ’70s soul singer, who performed as Dougie James And The Soul Train, died unexpectedly, and his brother Barry confirmed the sad news.

Dougie was the father of Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas, 36, and his twin brothers Adam and Scott Thomas, both 32.

Barry wrote on his Facebook page: “Thanks to Ryan, Scott and Adam for letting me know the legend that my brother Dougie James has passed away thanks for the laughs from the music education brother, see you on the other side.”

BBC Manchester’s Mike Shaft paid tribute to the local icon, saying, “I was playing all over the Northwest, in those days when they were playing places like Golden Garter, they had bands, an American band and then Dougie James.

“A wonderful guy, always with a smile on his face. Always a happy story. Very sad news.”

After his great success as a touring singer in the 1960s and 1970s, Dougie became a promoter and is well known in Manchester, where his children were raised.

Ryan, Emmerdale star Adam and Love Islander Scott joined their father on an emotional trip to India in 2019 to explore his roots in a six-part ITV documentary, Mancs In Mumbai.

There they came to terms with their previously strained relationship with Dougie, who had separated from her mother Gail shortly after the twins were born.

“My dad left us for years when we were younger and then he came back into our lives and we never talked about it,” Adam told Star TV magazine when the documentary aired earlier this year.

“There were a lot of unanswered questions, which we played and I think we had to do it. It got very emotional.”

Dougie disappeared from his children’s lives for six years after the torrid separation, only returning to them when Ryan turned 16.

“We didn’t see him the whole time, then when Ryan turned 16, he came back into our lives,” Scott told Weekend magazine.

“It was a difficult time for us, which is something we had to deal with on this trip.”

“There were a lot of unanswered questions that we had never talked about and this trip was the right time to do it,” Adam added.

The heartbreaking series followed the brothers and Dougie as they retracted in their father Nolan’s footsteps, from their home in Mumbai to the UK in 1947.

“He always referred to his dad as his hero,” Ryan said at the time, “and the moment he hit him was when he went to the school where our grandfather went to school. I said, ‘Dad, this is exactly the Same playground your dad used to play when he was a kid. ‘

Heartbreakingly, Adam told the cameras that he had heard Dougie say, “My dad is my hero, but I’m not sure he’s my children’s hero.”

The documentary was the longest time any of the children had spent with their father in one go, and Adam said it was important to put their fractured relationship in perspective.

“Taking him on this trip with us was very special. It’s pretty much his show, he steals this show from start to finish,” he told This Morning.

“So he was finding out about his father, but we were also finding out about our father.”

While promoting the trip on Instagram in May of this year, Ryan shared a photo of them when they were young with their dad watching them.

“We are our father’s son, thank you for making our trip such a special dad. We love you #mancsinmumbai,” he captioned it.

Ryan, who has a son Roman with his fiancee Lucy Mecklenburgh and daughter Scarlett from his previous relationship with Tina O’Brien, has yet to comment publicly on his father’s death.

Adam and Scott haven’t posted about Dougie yet either.

Tributes have been pouring in, with Simon James tweeting: “Today is really sad news that the legend of Dougie James has passed away, one of England’s greatest singers. We had a great time with Alex ‘Hurricane Higgins’ and bought a lot of pleasure for so many people, we will miss him very much. RIP DOUGIE. “

Another wrote: “Aww, I just found out that Dougie James from Dougie James ‘soul train has died. I remember him showing up at Fagins nightclub when he was working there, many times. I loved his version of’ Hey Joe ‘RIP’.

A third said: “My old friend dougie james passed away last night, God rest you will have a soul train with the angels.”

And a fourth tweeted: “Sad news to learn that Dougie James of Manchester, father of @ryanjamesthomas has died. Very sad news. Dougie and my uncle were great friends. I met him at the funeral and then at the memorial party a month later. RIP”