Tony Wilson, the bassist, songwriter and co‑founder of Hot Chocolate, has died at the age of 78.
His family announced that the musician passed away on Friday (24.04.26) in his native Trinidad, marking the end of a career that helped define one of Britain’s most successful soul groups of the 1970s.
Wilson’s daughter shared the news in an emotional Facebook post, writing that her father “left us today, April 24th 2026,” and adding that he “left a lot of music behind… forever and ever.”
She described their final conversations as deeply meaningful, saying he had recently asked for prayers and expressed a sense of peace about his passing.
She wrote: “The peace that I have is knowing that his soul escaped. He is in and at peace.”
Wilson’s son Danny paid tribute to his father in a heartfelt message, calling the weekend “emotional” and praising his dad’s relentless dedication to songwriting.
He revealed that old diaries from the early 1970s showed just how hard Wilson worked to get his music heard.
He wrote: “The knock backs, the interviews, the touring, the radio shows, the meticulous documenting of record sales… all the pressures of what was a cut‑throat music industry in the 70s.”
Danny said he cherished the memory of reading through those diaries with his father during a family visit last year.
A cause of death is not known at this time.
Born in Trinidad, Wilson moved to the UK as a young man and began pursuing music in the early 1960s, first as a solo act in 1964, when he released his debut single Yes I Do on Decca Records.
His life changed in 1969 when he teamed up with vocalist Errol Brown to form Hot Chocolate. The band went on to break new ground for Black British artists on the US charts, carving out a distinctive place in pop and soul history.
Hot Chocolate scored global success with a string of hits, most famously the 1975 classic You Sexy Thing, which Wilson co‑wrote.
The track became a defining anthem of the decade and remains one of the most recognisable songs in British pop culture.
Wilson departed Hot Chocolate in 1975, releasing two albums, I Like Your Style and Catch One.