Music producer David Gest, ex-husband of Liza Minelli, found dead in London hotel

David Gest, a music producer, reality TV star and former husband of Liza Minnelli, was found dead Tuesday at a London hotel. He was 62.

Gest’s friend Imad Handi confirmed his death, remembering Gest as “a natural star and a genuine celebrity.”

“David was truly larger than life. He was not just a huge talent and a dear friend but a showbiz icon,” Handi said.

The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called to “reports of an unexplained death of a man in his 60s” at the Four Seasons Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf on Tuesday morning.

The force said an autopsy would take place “in due course” to determine the cause of death, but it was not being treated as suspicious.

Born in 1953, Gest was raised in southern California, where he became friends with Michael Jackson and his family. He worked as a music promoter and television producer, and was introduced to Minnelli by Jackson when Gest produced the King of Pop’s 30th anniversary tribute concert for television in 2001.

The couple married in 2002, at a celebrity-studded ceremony with Jackson as best man and Elizabeth Taylor as maid of honour.