Family and friends are inviting the local community to celebrate the life a Weymouth singer who has died. 

Denise Harrison-Nash, known on the local music scene as Denise Scott, rose to prominence as a singer in the 60s, 70s and 80s when she sang with Weymouth based bands The Soundsmen and Weymouth All Stars.

She died peacefully at Weldmar Hospice on Sunday, March 17 aged 75 after a short battle against liver cancer.

A funeral service will be taking place on Wednesday, April 10 at Weymouth Crematorium at 2pm. Everyone is invited to attend and encouraged to wear bright and colourful clothes to celebrate the life of one of Weymouth's leading lights on the music scene. 

Dorset Echo: Denise Harrison-Nash (Denise Scott) in 1967

She was born on Portland on April 4, 1949, and grew up in a musical family. Her mother Poppy was a vocalist for the Bob Newsam band, the Merry Makers band, and the Johnny Day band. While touring across Dorset, Poppy met her soon-to-be husband John Butcher who was a drummer for the RAF band.

READ MORE: Poppy Butcher's memories of the Bob Newsam band, Merry Makers band and the Johnny Day band

Denise’s own musical career began during secondary school when she took part in weekly talent shows at the pier bandstand.

In 1964, she appeared in a segment of Ready Steady Go, a popular rock/pop music show on ITV, where three teenagers would imitate a star who was on the show. In Denise’s case it was Sandi Shaw.

Following this stint on TV, she returned to her local routes joining local band The Soundsmen as a vocalist in the 1960s and 70s. She later joined the Weymouth All Stars, performing with them for 15 years before her children, Andrew, and Annabel, were born.

Dorset Echo:

Her singing took a back seat for a while with Denise not performing publicly for 35 years. It was during this break from music, that she met her soon-to-be husband John Nash while they were both working in a social care training and development in 2001.

John said: “I met her over twenty years ago and I missed out on her early singing career. She was very well known In Weymouth, but I didn’t know she sang when we first met.

“Ten years ago, we joined a choir in Poole, and I got to hear her voice and it blew me away.”

Dorset Echo: John and Denise Nash (Denise Scott)

Denise began to rediscover her voice after joining this choir and she, along with her husband, travelled with Ben Waters, as part of his Rock and Roll Holidays visiting and singing in California, New Orleans, Iceland, France, Barbados, St Lucia and Italy.

Mr Waters said: “Denise was such a lovely lady and a great singer. She and John joined in many of our Rock n Roll Holidays. We’ll miss her smile, her passion for music and her wonderful voice.”

Her husband said she would be greatly missed by family and friends and is inviting people across Weymouth to this special service in her memory. 

More details about the service can be found on the website: https://www.denisecelebration.info/