A “KARAOKE legend” died from a serious head injury after the bus he was travelling on was involved in a crash, an inquest heard.

John Nield, 78, had just got onto the 715 bus in Church Street, Westhoughton, and was making his way to his seat when the collision happened.

At the opening of his inquest, Bolton Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Nield received a head injury after he was “thrown forward” in the crash on October 2 last year.

He was taken to Royal Bolton Hospital where he died at 10.30pm three days later.

A post mortem revealed that Mr Nield, a retired landscape gardener, died as a result of an “intracerebral haemorrhage”, a common complication of serious head injuries.  

Acting senior coroner Alan Walsh was told that a police investigation into his death is still ongoing. 

Mr Walsh said: “This inquest has been adjourned for a review on July 3, when hopefully the police investigation will be complete.” 

Following news of his death friends were quick to pay tribute to the much-loved grandfather.

The Salford-born singer, of Holden Lea, Westhoughton, was a regular at Vocals Karaoke at Church Ward Conservative Club and was affectionately known as ‘Johnny B’.

DJ Craig Jay, who runs the karaoke, told The Bolton News: “Johnny was special to me and lot of other people.

“He was loved by so many people, he was the type of person that always lit up the room and got the party started. He had a wonderful family that he loved more than anything. 

“His second love was karaoke, he was a true karaoke legend and a fabulous singer. 

“I have been honoured to have him as friend and singer at my karaokes. Everyone is going miss him, he was one of kind.”