Sean Caulfield and Stuart Mitchell were blessed with great talent, a fabulous work ethic and an easy disposition that made any time spent in their company a real joy.

Stuart had the kind of voice that nature conjures up once in a generation — and he had the soul to express myriad emotions, from the deepest well of grief to a happy-go-lucky insouciance.

Today I spoke to Sean — just as bubbly and irrepressible as ever — and learned the tragic news that Stuart took his life seven years ago. Seven years — my god how time flows past in its headlong torrent — it seems like only last week we were sharing a laugh about something.

But life does that to you. Weeks turn into months turn into years and before you know it you’ve lost touch with someone who actually meant so much more than you realised. That is, until it’s too late.

So, rest in peace my old friend. I’m sorry we lost touch at a time when you needed friends.

I leave this as a tribute. We were working on an autobiographical film based on the life of Justin De Villeneuve, who was Twiggy’s manager and a colourful Bohemian character in the swinging sixties. The brief was to come up with original songs that would sound as if they had been written decades before, but that could reach a contemporary audience. This is one of a number of songs Sean and Stuart came up with, for which I did arrangements and played all the horn parts. I remember coming up with the idea of the solo voice intro, and encouraged Stuart to pour his soul into those opening words “well, I… I should have known”.

I had no clue what he was about to deliver, but, well, in the words of the song — I should have known.

Ah, that voice…