Former radio queen Sammy Power dead at 55

Radio personality turned farmers’ markets doyenne, Sammy Power, has sadly passed away.

FORMER radio star and Brisbane market heiress Sammy Power has died aged 55.

Friends of the beloved eighth-generation Queenslander and daughter of Jan Power, the founder of the state’s farmers markets and a former Courier-Mail contributor, revealed her death yesterday.

Ms Power, who was once the queen of Triple M radio, lost a long-term battle with alcoholism and mental illness, and was found dead in her Hendra bedroom.

A statement on behalf of Ms Power’s family was released this morning.

“Sammy Power was a colourful, funny, and gregarious person whose greatest quality was her unbridled generosity and kind heart,” the statement read.

“Sammy saw the good in everyone and brought colour, vibrancy and a sharp wit to every conversation and every situation.

“She was creative and absolutely unique, something that is truly rare.

“She is survived by her mother Jan, father John, sister Astrid and nieces Emily, Olivia and India, all of whom are shocked and overwhelmed by her loss.

“They respectfully ask that all speculation and comment cease and that the family is allowed to grieve privately at this time.

Sammy Power remembered for her ‘beautiful and wicked sense of humour’

Sammy Power at the New Farm farmers’ markets in 2018. Picture: Annette Dew

Close friend Mark Power (unrelated) paid tribute to Ms Power, saying that she was “intelligent, vivacious and captivating”. “Sammy held court in any room,” he said.

Another friend, who asked not to be named, said the death was “absolutely tragic”.

“When Sammy was ‘on’, she made the sun shine on you, and that was a real gift of hers,” the friend said.

“She had a wicked sense of humour, but she got sucked in by all these people who tried to help her, all they were after was her money.

“I think her body just gave out – she was one minute telling people she was sober, but the next was going home and drinking …”

Sammy Power (middle) with fellow Triple M breakfast radio co-hosts Rob Duckworth and Dave Gibson in 1994.

Radio presenter Bianca Dye, who will leave 97.3FM Breakfast at the end of the year, described Ms Power as “a tortured genius”.

“She was a mentor to me when I moved to Brissy. It’s such a huge loss, I’m in shock.”

Another friend said Ms Power had been larger than life, and the world was too small for her.

Ms Power previously told The Courier-Mail she ditched her 28-year radio career, which included a stint on Triple M, because she was “burnt out” and “over it”.

She came back to Brisbane to help her mother Jan Power run her famous farmers markets and to live a more peaceful existence.

Sammy Power: A life in pictures

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In 2017, she was featured on the cover of Brisbane News revealing how she had shed half her body weight, dropping from 120kg to 60kg, and opening up about what the journey home had been like. The cat lover had no hesitation in giving up her “glory days” for a more meagre wage back in Brisbane, she told the magazine.

Sammy Power in 2017, when she appeared on the cover of Brisbane News. Picture: Ric Frearson

“Mum’s health was kind of failing and I was getting bored with radio anyway,” she said.

“Not only are you getting up at 4am, but it’s a 24-hour, seven days a week thing. You’re always looking for bits. Your whole life is out in the open. You’re not a visible person, but I would just open my mouth and people would know who I was.

I don’t regret anything in my radio career, but I was on the downhill run and I wasn’t interested. I could do it and I was still funny, but I didn’t enjoy it.”

The loveable Brisbane personality, who also appeared on TV including on shows such as Beauty and the Beast, celebrated her 50th birthday by marrying a cardboard cut-out of her old self.

Ms Power came from a family of achievers. Apart from her mother, her father was a surgeon and her great-great-grandfather TC Beirne founded the heritage-listed department store of the same name in ­Fortitude Valley more than a century ago.

She had ­credited her ­parents for some of her more powerful qualities.