STEVE Wright had “secret heart surgery” shortly after his BBC show was axed and was “more ill than he’d been letting on, a friend has claimed.
The 69-year-old radio icon died suddenly on Monday, leaving fans and loved ones heartbroken.
Wright’s close friend Mark Wells revealed the information in the Behind The Scenes with Colin Edmonds podcast.
In the wide-ranging tribute, Wells opened up on Steve’s health battles, including his heart bypass surgery.
Wells said: “He had a bypass operation which had gone well but I think he had been more ill than he had been letting on to that point.
“The recovery from that had gone pretty well.
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“Obviously the events of the last couple of days would suggest that’s what in the end came for him.”
TV executive Wells had been pals with the legendary DJ since the Nineties.
He added: “He never ate properly. Every meal I had with him was an unhealthy one. He didn’t drink much but he certainly used to smoke cigars.
“And we would often walk around the block smoking cigars back in the day. I think in time that took its toll.
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“Steve told me he had a heart operation about 14 or 15 months ago.”
In September 2022 bosses handed the afternoon slot to Scott Mills, leaving Steve with just his Sunday Love Songs programme.
He personally thanked Wells, who was former head of programming at ITV, during his final broadcast.
Wells also alleged station bosses begged Wright to return to his afternoon slot full-time, however, the BBC has denied this is the case.
Wells revealed: “This is absolutely the truth, and the BBC will deny this.
“But this is what Steve said to me last Friday (9/2 in this instance)
“He said you’ll never guess what happened this week. He said ‘I got a call from Radio 2, and they very quietly asked me how I would feel about going back to do afternoons.’
“I said ‘Oh my God, what do you think of that?’
“Well, he thought he was funny as well. And he said, ‘I don’t know whether you should ever go back in life though, do you?’
“And then we talked about something else and moved on.”
From bullied schoolboy to BBC legend
By Jane Matthews
STEVE Wright went from being a bullied schoolboy cruelly dubbed ‘Big Nose’ to a BBC radio legend.
Wright was born in Greenwich, London and attended Eastwood High School in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
It was there that he was cruelly nicknamed Big Nose and Concorde.
His first job after leaving school was in marine insurance but after three years he realised it wasn’t for him.
It was then that Wright left to become a local newspaper reporter.
This led him to BBC, as a record librarian, which then went on to his own shows – and the rest was history.
But in 2022 he announced he was stepping back from his Afternoon show after more than two decades.
He said at the time: “Before we start the show proper, if I may, I’d just like to say thank you ever so much for all the messages that have come in, over the weekend after I announced on Friday on the afternoon that we are leaving the afternoon show.”
The axing saw him take another step towards his Sunday Love Songs show – which he last appeared on just days ago.
However, a spokesman for the BBC explained that further shows on Radio 2 were never proposed.
They told us: “This isn’t right. We spoke to Steve alongside other presenters about our plans for the new Radio 2 DAB+ extension, which we announced last week, including simulcasting his Sunday Love Songs on the station and agreed to discuss further content ideas in due course. There was no mention of afternoons or Radio 2.”
Discussing the impact of his cull, Wells said: “Steve was extremely surprised that it happened.
“It came as a bolt from the blue and that’s why he couldn’t understand it.
“He felt that the show was still extremely popular and there was no drop in the number of listeners he was reaching.
“He felt creatively and editorially, and from a production point of view, the show was still hot.”
He added: “I think Steve was just shocked in the way it was handled, which I think was brutal, but he was determined publicly to appear very stoical about it, which is why he said what he said at the time, ‘Sometimes they want you, sometimes they don’t’.
“Steve loved and hated the BBC and equal measure is the truth of it.
“He loved the organisation and what it stood for.
“He hated the bureaucracy and nonsense he had to put up with – the interfering.”
SON’S HEARTBREAK
Steve’s son Tom told The Sun on Sunday he flew from Los Angeles to London to care for his dad, due to receive an MBE awarded in the New Year’s Honours list.
The ex-club promoter said he got to know his father “in a way he never had” during the DJ’s final months.
In an emotional post on Instagram, Tom added: “God rest your soul Dad, and thank you for all your for all the kind words from all the lives that he touched and people that loved him.
“It’s gonna be an intense few days, so catching up and hearing from old friends and new would mean more than anything else right now too…
“Rough as it may be, I thank the Gods I’m sober, as this would have straight up killed me even a couple of years ago after losing Mum over the pandemic in the same way without getting to see him before he passed after flying back to take care of the old blighter.
“Still, I will cherish every memory we made, and it’s not like I don’t have a few shows to be working through whenever I miss his voice, though tears me up too much now to consider…
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“But it means the world hearing from so many beloved friends of his and mine and I only hope to make him proud; and build on his legacy with kindness and love anyways I can!
“Love you all and miss you already dad. #ConnectionAsCure.”
