James Morrison’s partner Gill Catchpole ‘was looking for a house to rent just 24 hours before she died’ as Facebook posts reveal her ‘ups, downs and heartbreak’ since receiving a kidney transplant in 2022 – as singer is hit by fourth family tragedy

James Morrison’s wife Gill Catchpole was looking for a house to rent just 24 hours before her death and had recently spoken of her ‘ups, downs and heartache’ following a life-saving kidney transplant, MailOnline can reveal today.

The mother-of-two, a pub owner and caterer, was found dead at their family home in Gloucestershire aged 45.

The singer, 39, and his family are ‘devastated’ by Gill’s death. The couple, who married in 2006, have two daughters, Elsie, 15, and Ada Rose, five.

MailOnline can reveal that Gill was looking for a property in the Whitminster area on the eve of her death – the fourth family tragedy James Morrison has experienced in recent years.

Police are not treating her death as suspicious. It happened about 14 months after she had a kidney transplant, which she admitted had destroyed her life, but she praised her family for “picking up the many pieces of my life.”

Gill, a cafe owner and caterer, reportedly died on Friday. The day before the tragedy, she wrote on a local Facebook group: ‘Looking for a house to rent in Whitminster ASAP. Please feel free to contact me if anyone knows or hears anything. TIA [thanks in advance].

A friend said on social media at the time: ‘Gill is a very dear friend of mine. If anyone has any properties to rent, preferably in the Whitminster area, please let me know or message Gill directly.’

Gill underwent a kidney transplant at the end of 2021 after one was working at ’35 per cent’. It came as a shock to her.

Ms Catchpole had shared a post on her company’s social media late last year expressing her excitement about starting the business after undergoing a kidney transplant.

She wrote in the November 2023 post, “Well what can I say. What a difference a year makes. This time last year I had my kidney transplant and a year later, after many ups and sorrows, I have my own business here.

‘At the beginning of this year I didn’t see this coming. For anyone who is going through a hard time, I can tell you from experience that it gets better.

‘Thank you to my wonderful family and friends who have all been there and picked up the many pieces of me and my life. You all know who you are. Today I feel blessed.”

It is yet another tragedy for Morrison, who disappeared from the music industry for some time until his greatest hits album in 2022 after within three years, losing his father Paul, an alcoholic, as well as big brother Alexis and cousin Callum.

Gill supported him through this battle as he himself went through health issues that led to a kidney transplant last year.

James Morrison described his romance with the late Gill Catchpole as a “fairy tale” that began when he was 17 and she and her boyfriend moved in with his mother.

Morrison rose to fame in 2006 with his hit You Give Me Something, followed by a number of hit singles and five top ten albums in fifteen years. Gill was by his side throughout that success – and was a muse to James, who is famous for his love songs.

The star has spoken candidly about his romance with Mrs Catchpole, telling the White Wine Question Time podcast that she had moved in with her then boyfriend into his mother’s house as a tenant.

That boyfriend ended up going on a date with Morrison’s mother, and he and Gill would later fall in love. James revealed that he had learned songs from a Stevie Wonder album and began ‘serenading’ her with the tunes in an attempt to impress her.

He said: ‘When she came to live with her, I started singing all the songs from that album to her. I played all that stuff on the acoustic guitar. I’m not like, “I like romance.” But I do find certain things romantic and the fact that we met the way we did. It’s like a little fairy tale or something.’

The couple had two children.

Morrison has spoken about helping Gill find strength when daughter Ada was born 13 weeks prematurely, weighing just 1lb 11oz, and spoke of a ‘difficult year’ when the little baby was born.

Elsie was also born in difficult circumstances, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Due to the difficult birth, Mrs Catchpole spent a week and a half in hospital.

Morrison, who was himself born prematurely and had to be brought back from the brink four times after contracting whooping cough as a baby, said his partner was irreplaceable after all she had endured for their children.

He told the mirror of the moments after Ada’s birth: ‘When we got back to the ward, I let all my emotions run wild. Gill was my hero.

‘I’m still in awe of how she got through it. She is my rock. I’ve known her since I played open mic bars and was a van cleaner. I could never replace her.”

He told Lorraine in 2019: ‘[My daughter] was born at just 1lb 11oz. She was really small, but now she is a good, strong baby. She compensates for it in volume.

‘It’s good that we have reached this point now, because the first year was difficult. Everything that was difficult is now worth it.

“(Gill) was feeling down after the baby, so I admired her so much.

‘I just wanted to write a song that sounded like sunshine on the radio. I wanted to cheer her up, and she said I did.”

Morrison is an acclaimed songwriter who not only performs his own hits, but has also written for stars such as Olly Murs and Demi Lovato.

The caption suggested new music was in the pipeline: “New year, new adventure.”

Sources say the singer is ‘devastated’ as his family rallies to support him. He has previously described her as his ‘hero’ and their romance as a ‘little fairy tale’, with the title of recent album Stronger Than You Know inspired by her strength following the premature birth of daughter Ada.

He has two girls with Mrs Catchpole: Elsie, 15, and Ada, who is now five. Mrs Catchpole ran a café and catering business from the village where the family lived.

His last Instagram post showed him in his home studio with a guitar in front of a computer running recording software, hours before Gill was found dead.

The sun reports that police cars were outside the Cotswold Sandwich Box business on Saturday. It was closed because officers were visiting. There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, a family friend told the newspaper.

They said: “Gill was found dead at the family home in Whitminster on Friday.

‘James is devastated and is supported by his family. He is keeping it together for their girls, but has asked that the family be left alone to grieve privately.”

A local resident added that the village was in ‘complete shock’ after the tragedy.

Morrison’s 2006 debut album, Undiscovered, has been certified five times platinum in the UK; follow-up Songs for You, Truth for Me went three times platinum, while 2011’s The Awakening reached number one and also went platinum.

He told The Mail on Sunday in 2015: ‘Alexis and Callum died just a year apart. After my father died it was heartbreaking to lose the next generations.”

Of his father, he added: “Towards the end he was a law unto himself. We were in regular contact during his last weeks.

“I still told him, ‘There’s still time. You can be a grandpa to Elsie.’ But he just said, “I don’t need any help.”

“The night he died of a heart attack, I was on tour. I had left my phone at the recording studio the night before and when I picked it up it was full of missed calls from my dad.

‘No messages, just missed calls. Man, that was brutal. Now I’ll never know what he wanted to say to me.’