It's weird how we get so affected by the death of someone famous. We don't know them personally, but we feel touched by their songs or performances or work. I think it's especially poignant when we've had the opportunity to meet a celebrity, and been pleasantly surprised by how amiable they are, and learn shortly afterwards of their passing. As a culture, we're quite obsessed with the rich and famous, and I am guilty of being curious of the odd break-up, scandal or feud; but the finalty of death brings out bizarre emotions in us.

The recent passing of Alex Chilton has stirred up some old memories of celebrity death, and I think it's because of my friend Kieran. Alex Chilton rose to fame as the lead singer of The Box Tops, having a No.1 hit with The Letter at the age of 16. His next band, Big Star, never achieved the same success, but their albums were quite influential to bands such as R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, The Lemonheads, Primal Scream and Velvet Crush, not to mention Matthew Sweet. Kieran is quite a fan of Big Star and turned me on to their first two albums. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to tell you any Big Star songs and would only have known Alex Chilton because he was the guy who sang The Letter originally.