1980s music legend Pete Waterman becomes patron of Brain Tumour Research in honour of son who died aged 33

Pete Waterman has said taking on the role of patron for Brain Tumour Research is “his life” after losing his son Paul to the disease in 2005.

Record producer Waterman, who co-founded Stock, Aitken and Waterman, takes on the role ahead of the 20th anniversary of Paul’s death.

The 77-year-old said: “It’s my life… I’ll be doing this till I get put in a box.”

His son Paul worked with him at his PWL record label and died at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with the disease.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman had 300 top 75 hits and 30 platinum albums, producing the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Bananarama.

They split acrimoniously in 1992 and Waterman moved on to manage the hugely successful Steps.

Waterman, who was made an OBE in 2005, said that year was “bittersweet”, but added that he had told Paul about the honour despite being “sworn to secrecy”.

Speaking as his new role was announced, Waterman said: “I have taken on this job as patron of Brain Tumour Research because nobody should have to go through this.

“We have seen massive moves forward in medicine and in cancer care, we have modern technology and somehow we can spend a fortune on bombing each other and yet we can’t spend as much as we need to on make the advances we so desperately need in this area. That’s just lunacy.”

According to the charity, brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, but just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease since records began in 2022.

Speaking about his experience with his son’s disease, Waterman added: “It was unbelievable – just two years earlier I had been at the bedside of his brother Pete who had been badly injured in a go-karting accident.

“It was Christmas time and I was told Pete would be lucky to see the New Year. But miraculously he did survive and then there I was, two years later and to the day, sitting at the bedside of my other son Paul.

“It was bittersweet to say the least because I was being awarded the OBE for services to the music industry and it was announced just a few days before Paul died.

“I’ve never told anyone this before, but I guess it’s OK for me to say now, that although I was sworn to secrecy by Buckingham Palace, I told Paul. It was really important to me that he knew because it was as much for him and the rest of the team as it was for me, we all worked so hard.”

Waterman is backing the charity’s calls to increase national investment in brain tumour research to £35 million per year, which would give the disease parity with other types of cancer including breast and prostate, according to Brain Tumour Research.

He continued: “20 years on and Paul’s loss still hurts, but in a way I think that’s a good thing.

“It’s good to know you are vulnerable, to understand that you can be in good health but then it’s suddenly snapped away from you by a brain tumour that doesn’t discriminate, it takes anybody and for no particular reason.

“I know now that it is most likely that Paul had a glioblastoma (GBM) which is the most commonly diagnosed aggressive brain tumour in adults which has a devastatingly stark prognosis of just 12 to 18 months, only one in five patients with this type of brain tumour survive beyond one year.”

The charity’s other patrons over the years include singer and actor Alfie Boe, who lost his father to a brain tumour, GBM patient and Antiques Roadshow expert Theo Burrell, and TV presenter and garden designer Danny Clarke, who lost his sister to the disease.