Melanie Appleby

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Melanie Susan Appleby (11 July 1966 - 18 January 1990) was one half of the 1980s English pop duo Mel and Kim.

Born in Hackney, London of mixed-race to a Jamaican father and a British mother, Appleby initially worked as a glamour model (In 1987 she did a photo shoot for Mayfair) and then joined her sister Kim Appleby to form Mel and Kim, enjoying considerable chart success during the mid and late 1980s.

[edit] Death

She died of pneumonia following treatment for spinal cancer on 18 January 1990. Appleby was first diagnosed with cancer in December 1985, prior to the success of Mel & Kim, when she had an operation to remove a large tumour on her liver. The cancer returned to her spine in mid 1987. During her lengthy health problems towards the end of her life, her condition was for some time rumoured to be a spinal disc herniation resulting from the energetic dance routines performed by the pair. However, after initial denials of the seriousness of her condition were released, the fact that she was suffering from cancer was eventually confirmed.

It was reported by the twins' agents on January 19th, 1990 that a few days earlier she had been admitted to hospital with a common cold, but that as a result of the cancer treatment she was receiving her immune system had been unable to fight this off and the cold had developed into pneumonia. She died at the age of 23.