James Morrison’s wife of 17 years Gill Catchpole appeared without her wedding ring in Facebook posts and her relationship status was set to ‘single’ before her sudden death

James Morrison’s wife of 17 years Gill Catchpole had removed her wedding ring and was looking for a new home shortly before she died – just as her popstar husband started recording new music in 2024, MailOnline can reveal today.

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

The couple, who had two daughters, Elsie, 15, and Ada Rose, five, married in 2006 but Gill was pictured without her wedding ring last summer and had her relationship status as ‘single’ on Facebook.

MailOnline revealed today that Gill was looking for a property in the Whitminster area on the eve of her death – the fourth family tragedy Mr Morrison has suffered in recent years. Gill had also recently spoken of her ‘ups, downs and heartache’ after a kidney transplant.

The life-saving operation came around the time her popstar husband, 39, returned to the limelight with a greatest hits album and festival appearances. He has had several long breaks between hit records and has spoken about his grief following the death of his father, brother and nephew after he became a star with his breakthrough song You Give Me Something.

James and his family have been ‘devastated’ by Gill’s death. On the day before she died, the singer-songwriter shared an image of him recording guitar music on Instagram with the caption: ‘New year, new adventure’. He is yet to comment publicly.

Police are not said to be treating her death as suspicious. It came around 14 months after she underwent a kidney transplant, which she admitted had shattered her life but praised her family for ‘picking up the many pieces of my life’.

Gill 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 contact me if anyone knows or hears of anything. TIA [thanks in advance].

A friend then said on social media: ‘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 in late 2021 after one was working at ’35 per cent’. It came as a shock to her.

Ms Catchpole had shared a post on her business’ social media late last year expressing excitement at getting the venture going 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 was having my kidney transplant and a year on after many ups downs and heartache I am a here owning my own business. 

‘At the start of this year I myself never saw this coming. For anyone out there struggling I can tell you from experience it does get better. 

‘Thanks to my amazing family and friends that have been there through it all 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 until his greatest hits album in 2022 disappeared from the music industry for some time after losing his father Paul, an alcoholic, as well as older brother Alexis and nephew Callum within the space of three years.

Gill supported him throughout these struggles while going through health problems herself that led to a kidney transplant last year. 

James Morrison described his romance with the late Gill Catchpole as a ‘fairytale’ that began when he was 17 and she moved into his mother’s home as a lodger with her boyfriend.

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 over 15 years. Gill was by his side throughout that success – and was a muse for James who is famed for his love songs.

The star has spoken candidly of his romance with Ms Catchpole, telling podcast White Wine Question Time that she had moved into his mother’s house as a lodger with her then-boyfriend. 

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 been learning songs from a Stevie Wonder album and began ‘serenading’ her with the tunes in a bid to impress her.

He said: ‘When she moved in, I started singing all the songs off that album to her. I was playing all of that stuff on the acoustic guitar. I’m not like: “I love romance.” But I do find certain things romantic and the fact that we met each other the way we did. It’s like a little fairytale or something’.

The couple had two children.

Morrison has spoken of helping Gill find strength when daughter Ada was born 13 weeks premature, weighing just 1lb 11oz, speaking of a ‘difficult year’ as the tiny baby was brought into the world.

Elsie was also born in difficult conditions, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The tricky birth saw Ms Catchpole spend a week and a half in hospital.

Morrison, who himself was born premature and had to be brought back from the brink four times after contracting whooping cough as a baby, said his partner was irreplaceable after everything 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 emotion out. Gill was my hero.

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

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

‘It’s good we’ve got to this point, as the first year was difficult. Everything that was hard is worth it now.

‘(Gill) was feeling down after the baby, so I had so much admiration for her.

‘I just wanted to write a song that sounded like sunshine on the radio. I wanted to lift her spirits, and she said I did that.’

Morrison is an acclaimed songwriter who, as well as performing his own hits, has written for stars including Olly Murs and Demi Lovato.

Suggesting there was new music in the pipeline, it was captioned: ‘New year, new adventure’.

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

He has two girls with Ms Catchpole: Elsie, 15, and Ada, who is now five. Ms 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 sat outside the Cotswold Sandwich Box business on Saturday. It was closed as officers visited. There are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, a family friend told the paper.

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

‘James is devastated and is being supported by his family. He is holding it together for their girls but has asked for the family to be left alone to grieve in private.’

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

Morrison’s 2006 debut album, Undiscovered, is a five-time certified platinum release in the UK; follow-up Songs for You, Truth for Me went platinum three times, while 2011’s The Awakening reached Number One and was certified platinum too.

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

Of his father, he added: ‘By the end he was a law unto himself. We were in regular contact during his final weeks. 

‘I was still telling him, “There’s still time. You can be a grandad to Elsie.” But he would just say, “I don’t need help.”

‘The night he died from a heart attack, I was on tour. I’d left my mobile in the recording studio the night before and, when I collected it, it was packed with missed calls from my dad. 

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