The Pop Corporation

Ashley Beedle’s involvement with X-Press 2, being namechecked in Daft Punk’s ‘Teachers’, sending Elton John’s ‘Are You Ready For Love?’ to number one, and decades of wonderful, rafters rattling DJ sets means that no-one should be in any doubt that he’s one of the legends of dance music. And when a legend needs your help, you offer a hand.

Beedle has suffered ill health in recent years, first getting stage four prostate cancer and then, earlier this year, suffering a stroke. Friends and family have set up a fundraiser to help Ashley with his care, physio, a hospital bed and more.

“Ashley wants you to know that he is a survivor and not a victim and he says ‘thank you’ to all of you who contribute towards the fund,” says a press statement. “Since recovering in Kings College’s Critical Care unit, Ashley has proved himself to be a fighter and has surmounted all odds with an incredible sense of humour and determination that has impressed everyone involved.”

The NHS have obviously helped, but now he’s been discharged from a residential rehab centre and is crowdfunding in an attempt to leave a nursing home to move to assisted living accommodation.

“Sadly, the diagnosis is that Ashley’s mobility won’t return to his right side and he will be confined to a wheelchair requiring full time carers for the majority of his activities including bathing and getting in and out of bed,” the press notes continued. “Ashley and his family are now facing the reality of not just the physical and medical challenges, but also the many financial ones, having used all their savings to get
to this stage.”

If you want to donate, you can find the GoFundMe page here. Unsurprisingly, the response to this news has been huge and fans and friends of Ashley have donated generously.

Here’s an Essential Mix from Beedle in ’97, should you need reminding how fabulous he is.