Britain Get Singing viewers moved to tears by grieving Brenda Edwards

‘A mother with grief in her heart’: Britain Get Singing viewers moved to tears as Loose Women are crowned winners after Brenda Edwards broke down during tribute to her son Jamal

• The presenter’s son, Jamal, died of a heart attack in February aged 31 after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol at his West London home
• Brenda performed on Britain Get Singing with her Loose Women co-stars
• They sung Bridge Over Troubled Water which reminded her of Jamal
• The group impressed the judges and moved viewers to tears after they won 

The Loose Women left Britain Get Singing viewers in tears as they won the show on Saturday night.

Panellists of the ITV daytime programme Brenda Edwards, Denise Welch, Coleen Nolan and Linda Robinson took to the stage on the Christmas Eve special to perform Simon and Garfunkel classic Bridge Over Troubled Water.

And, after Brenda was shown in tears on the show as they rehearsed ahead of their performance as the song reminded her of her late son Jamal, the television audience gave the group a standing ovation after they sung while viewers at home were moved to tears as they were announced as the winners.

Moving: The Loose Women left Britain Get Singing viewers in tears as they won the show on Saturday night

The ladies looked glamorous as they appeared on stage, each wearing silver sequinned outfits which glistened under the bright studio lights.

They went head-to-head in the competition against groups from some of the UK’s biggest television shows, including soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and reality series Love Island.

But it was the Loose Women who impressed judges Will.i.am, Alesha Dixon, Jason Manford and Adam Lambert, and viewers alike.

Tearful: The group performed Simon and Garfunkel classic Bridge Over Troubled Water which Brenda Edwards (right) said reminded her of her late son Jamal

Emotional: The Loose Women stars were seen comforting each other as they broke into tears following their performance which received a standing ovation from the studio audience

Taking to Twitter, one viewer wrote: ‘Very emotional performance from Brenda and the ladies,, bought tears to my eyes.’

While another viewer shared: ‘I don’t know how I expected my Christmas Eve to be but it wasn’t sitting in tears watching @loosewomen singing #BritainGetSinging.’

‘What an amazing show, Corrie and Emmerdale were Amazing but the Loose Women Omg they broke me. Fabulous performance,’ posted another viewer.

All stars: (L-R) Judi Love, Kéllé Bryan, Linda Robson, Brenda Edwards, Coleen Nolan and Denise Welch performed on the show

Applause: The Loose Women impressed judges (L-R) Will.i.am, Alesha Dixon, Adam Lambert and Jason Manford

Touching: Jason was seen looking emotional as he stood to give the group a round of applause on the show

Competition: The ladies went head-to-head in the competition against groups from soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and reality series Love Island

Glitterati: The ladies looked glamorous as they appeared on stage, each wearing silver sequinned outfits which glistened under the bright studio lights

Another audience member tweeted from home: ‘When you cry for and with @brenda_edwards singing with loose women on #BritainGetSinging which I believe they go on to win. You couldn’t not be moved by that. A mother singing with grief in her heart .Jamal will be watching and will be so proud of his mum carrying on his legacy.’

While someone else shared: ‘Just watched on catch up, that was great. Really hard following the Loose Women who made me tear up with my favourite song. So glad you tweeted or I’d have missed out!!’

Another person posted: ‘@brenda_edwards @loosewomen hey Brenda seeing you and your amazing strength singing and winning on Itv was mind blowing and reduced me to tears!!…I think you should release it for a mental health charity I for onw would buy it…..just an idea luv ya.’

Moved to tears: Emotional viewers took to Twitter after seeing the performance to express their feelings

Someone else shared: ‘Omg what a performance you gave us tonight, just bloody amazing, so proud of each & everyone of you. I’ve got goose bumps it was so emotional. Our Loose Women just Won, Britain Get Singing proud of you all. Merry Christmas & a Happy newyear.’

One other viewer wrote: ‘I really enjoyed the show how talented are these actors but the emotional song from loose women had to win it.’

Before they took to the stage, the Loose Women were seen rehearsing the song when Brenda broke down, prompting her co-stars to comfort her.

Her son, music entrepreneur Jamal, died of a heart attack in February aged 31 after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol at his West London home.

Emotional: Brenda was seen in tears while singing Bridge Over Troubled Water during Friday’s episode of Loose Women as they rehearsed the song which reminded her of late son Jamal

Brenda was joined at the piano by Denise, Coleen and Linda to practice the song in support of mental health campaign Get Britain Talking.

Giving her reasoning behind the song choice, she detailed: ‘All of my family they sing it in church, so it’s very poignant to me.

‘It got me a little upset as my son passed away earlier in the year and everything is a trigger. I’m so grateful to have the ladies as a unit around me.’ 

Tragic: Music entrepreneur Jamal, died of a heart attack in February aged 31 after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol , at his West London home (Pictured in 2014)

Upset: The panel, who were rehearsing the song to perform for Britain Get Singing on Christmas Eve, comforted the presenter during the emotional moment 

The one off ITV show aired footage of the stars talking about their own mental health experiences before taking to the stage. 

In groups, the country’s biggest TV stars from Emmerdale and Coronation Street including Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri and Andrew Le Page, went head-to-head.  

Jamal died from a cardiac arrest after a late night cocaine and drinking session where he became paranoid and began throwing objects around the room before falling unconscious, an inquest heard in August.

Performing: The one off ITV show aired footage of the stars talking about their own mental health experiences before taking to the stage

Three small snap bags containing the remnants of white powder were found on the 31-year-old son of Loose Women panellist Brenda after he collapsed at his west London home in February this year, the hearing was told.

Assistant West London Coroner Ivor Collett today ruled that Mr Edwards died after a cardiac arrest brought on by taking cocaine and drinking alcohol. 

His heartbroken mother, Brenda, described him as ‘a beautiful and selfless person’ in a statement read to the inquest. 

Earlier this year she said she wanted his death to ‘help drive more conversation about the unpredictability of recreational drugs’.

Sad: Earlier this year Brenda said she wanted his death to ‘help drive more conversation about the unpredictability of recreational drugs’ (Jamal pictured receiving his MBE in March 2015)

The DJ and founder of online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV had returned to his home in Acton after 4am after playing a set in north London before he sat up drinking with a friend, Nick Hopper, who was living in an annex of the house. 

Mr Hopper said that ‘he appeared to be his normal self’ and they ‘began to chat, smoke some weed and drink’ – but his famous friend then spoke about the pressure he was under.

After a while Mr Edwards became erratic and paranoid and began throwing objects around the room before collapsing, the inquest was told. Despite the best efforts of Mr Hopper and later his uncle, Rodney Artman, as well as paramedics, Mr Edwards did not wake up and was declared dead at 10.36am on Sunday February 20.

Awful: His heartbroken mother, Brenda, described him as ‘a beautiful and selfless person’ in a statement read to the inquest 

How Jamal Edwards launched the careers of some of Britain’s biggest stars from a YouTube channel set up in his bedroom when he was 15 and working in Topman

Jamal was 15 when his mother Brenda bought him extra special Christmas present – a £200 video camera. 

YouTube had just been launched and Jamal, who like most teenagers spent hours in his bedroom online, decided to upload some footage of foxes in his back garden. ‘I thought I was Steve Irwin,’ he said in an interview with MailOnline.

A young Ed Sheeran appears on SBTV in 2010 in a clip that now has 11m views on YouTube alone

But when the footage got 1,000 views, he realised he was on to something. 

He went out on to the estate and made some clips of his friends, most of whom were into grime – the music style now defined by stars such as Dizzee Rascal and Skepta. 

‘Back then, there was no place to showcase our sort of spitting and rapping, so I thought, OK, I want to create that platform,’ he said. He took his own rap moniker ‘Smokey Barz’ to coin his brand name and SBTV was born.

Jamal began his Topman career as a shop assistant but at the same time started hanging out at the BBC, sneaking into raves and messaging record labels to beg for interview time with their artists. His big break came three years later when he secured his first non-grime interview with Kelly Rowland.

From that, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz and countless other A-listers followed. In 2011, he was invited to 10 Downing Street to interview the prime minister after being appointed a Spirit of London Awards ambassador.

Jamal was still hands-on with both filming and editing at SBTV, and had big plans to expand the brand into sport, comedy and fashion. 

Away from work his great passion was Chelsea FC. 

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