Tragic Hollywood star Robin Williams has been remembered by a Bermuda-based singer who struck up a friendship with the star when he was filming in Canada.

Suzi Stephenson, lead singer of Pickled Onion house band Graffiti Park, became friends with Mr Williams, who died on Monday in a suspected suicide, while he was shooting Man of the Year in Toronto.

The Oscar-winning actor and comedian even joined the band on stage for an impromptu version of James Brown’s Sex Machine and Graffiti Park became so popular with the cast and crew they were asked to perform at the end of shooting wrap party for the film, which was released in 2006.

“He made the world laugh — he was on eleven nearly all the time, but he was also a sweet, genuine, honest to God, down to earth human being,” said Ms Stephenson.

“He gave fantastic bear hugs — fur and all.”

Mr Williams, who was 63 and who had battled depression and addiction problems for years, was found dead at his home in California.

Ms Stephenson said: “He would charge across a room bellowing my name and pick me up off my feet — and make me feel like a billion dollars.

“He was candid and honest about his depression and substance abuse. We talked about stuff. We liked each other.”

The singer and band guitarist Kojo Ferguson met Mr Williams and fellow comic and co-star Lewis Black nearly a decade ago while the band was regular performers at Toronto’s Windsor Arms Hotel, where the cast and the crew of the movie stayed while they were filming.

Ms Stephenson said: “He was there for a few months and he came every week to our gig.

“We would hang out once a week and spend all night in the bar with him and stay afterwards and chat.”

She added: “He was just a genuine, very nice person — friendly and a really lovely man.”

Ms Stephenson added: “A lot of people had the privilege of meeting Robin Williams. I feel like, even if you didn’t, you will feel like you have.

“He was that kind of guy. Joy on legs. Kojo and I had the absolute honour of being able to call him a friend, for a while at least, when he filmed a few months in Toronto.”

Ms Stephenson added that Mr Williams was “without compromise” and “refreshing beyond relief.”

She said: “Robin was lovely. Truly. He was what you saw on the screen. Scars, vulnerability, insecurity and love.

“My heart goes out to his family and to his friends. For me, although I’m sure I have no right, it is a sad day.

“Sad because the world lost one of its truly magical people too soon. But also because he was, for me at least, intelligent, irreverent, vital, boundless and real.”

Mr Williams is scheduled to appear on the big screen later this year in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, reprising his role from the first Night at the Museum film as former US president Teddy Roosevelt.

He was also due to star in a sequel to his 1993 smash hit Mrs Doubtfire, where he played a divorced father and actor who dresses up as a Scottish nanny to be closer to his children.

Mr Williams won his Academy Award for his supporting role as a therapist in 1997’s Good Will Hunting and was nominated for a total of four Oscars, the first for his role as Vietnam War military DJ Arian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam.

He was also nominated for his performance in school drama Dead Poets Society in 1990 and for The Fisher King a year later, where he played a homeless man who helps save a suicidal radio host.