The estranged father of multi-millionaire singer Adele has died at the age of 57.
Mark Evans, who had not spoken to his daughter for years after a bitter falling out, passed away following a battle with cancer, The Sun reported.
A source told the newspaper that Mr Evans’s family were ‘of course very upset by his passing’.
They added that the relationship with his daughter remained ‘acrimonious to the end’, despite attempts to ‘make things right’.
He and his daughter famously fell out in 2011 when Evans, who walked out on the singer when she was a child, claimed in an interview that she struggled to find love because of her abandonment issues.
The estranged father of multi-millionaire singer Adele has died at the age of 57
Mark Evans, who had not spoken to his daughter for years after a bitter falling out, passed away following a battle with cancer
His death comes after it was reported in 2019 that Mr Evans was earning just £50 a day as a Yodel delivery driver.
Mr Evans had revealed in 2013 that he was suffering from bowel cancer.
In an interview that year, he claimed to ‘just want my daughter back’ after years without speaking to Adele.
Speaking two years earlier, Mr Evans admitted that he was a ‘rotten father’ to his daughter when she was growing up.
‘I was putting away two litres of vodka and seven or eight pints of Stella every day.
‘I drank like that for three years. God only knows how I survived it,’ he said.
He added that he was ‘deeply ashamed’ of what he had ‘become’.
Adele has won numerous awards throughout her career, and in 2012 won all six of her nominations at the Grammy awards
Evans, who lived in a small rented house in Bridgend, South Wales, was earning between £50 and £100 for his role as a delivery driver – which involved delivering parcels for the Yodel courier service.
The newspaper photographed the reformed alcoholic, dressed in jeans and a pink shirt, going about his rounds.
And quoted ‘a pal’ as saying Evans was ‘heartbroken’ over his relationship with Adele and just wanted to be a ‘normal grandad’ to her children.
‘He hasn’t got a life really, he’s just existing. He used to be a plumber but switched to the driving a few months ago,’ they said.
In the interview that led to their bust-up, Evans took full responsibility for his failings as a father – walking out when his daughter was three, leaving her mother Penny Adkins to raise her single-handedly.
Despite the breakdown of his relationship with Penny, Mr Evans remained close to Adele, who would spend school holidays in Wales with her grandparents Rose and John Evans and her half-brother Cameron.
News of her father’s death comes just days after Adele shared a rare gallery of pictures of herself to mark her 33rd birthday
The images bore the caption ‘Thirty FREE’ – an apparent nod to her single status after she split from husband Simon Konecki two years ago
But he admitted he lost touch with his daughter when he suffered a breakdown following the death of Adele’s grandfather John in 1999 and the collapse of a relationship that triggered a long battle with alcoholism.
He has previously confessed to writing her letters every month to no avail and said he never gave up hope of seeing his grandson.
And said: ‘She can’t be in any doubt that I want to see her, to find out what’s wrong and show her I want and need to play a part in her life other than Mr Rotten Dad.
‘She’s obviously taken against me and I feel powerless to change her opinion.’
News of her father’s death comes just days after Adele shared a rare gallery of pictures of herself to mark her 33rd birthday.
The images bore the caption ‘Thirty FREE’ – an apparent nod to her single status after she split from husband Simon Konecki two years ago.
The former couple share son Angelo, eight.