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The legendary Northern Ireland player had been suffering from throat cancer for more than a decade and he blamed his illness largely on the cigarette makers who sponsored his sport.
Higgins was one of the sport's greatest entertainers, but away from the table his private life was a chaotic whirlwind of drink, womanising, fights, illness and debt. He earned millions in the years when snooker was a British national obsession, but blew it all in a long and turbulent descent into homelessness and drink.
His career disintegrated in a blizzard of fines, bans and court-cases and he was left penniless after losing his luxury house in Cheshire, northern England to the taxman. He was divorced by two wives, Cara and Lynn, and was stopped from seeing his two children, Lauren and Jordan.
Higgins claimed the world champion's crown at the first attempt, aged 22, and took it back again ten years later from Ray Reardon at the Crucible in Sheffield. Many feel Higgins' finest hour came the following year at Preston Guildhall, when he came back from 7-0 down against the seemingly unbeatable Davis to win the 1983 United Kingdom championship final 16-15.
His fall from grace began in the same hall three years later, when he head-butted an official and was fined and banned for the next five major tournaments. He slipped out of the top 100 rankings in 1997 and was convicted in 1996 of assaulting a 14-year-old boy.
Higgins' life continued to unravel in sheltered housing on the Donegall Road in Belfast, but he kept playing the sport he loved until his final days.