Madness - Suggs Discovered Dad's Death Online

The Baggy Trousers singer was abandoned by his drug addict dad William when he was a small child, and he was raised by his mother, Edith.

After finding fame with the cult British ska band, MCPherson decided to try to track his father down - only to discover he was dead by reading an entry about himself on online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org.

He tells Scottish newspaper the Daily Record, "(I was) scrabbling about, going to records offices and the British Library (for information on my father). Then one day my mate said, 'Have you ever looked yourself up on Wikipedia?'

"I looked myself up and there it all was. It said my father had died in 1975, aged just 40. The thing is, this website knew more about my life than me and my whole family combined."