Bermuda saxophonist Deric Dyer has described the death of world-famous rock singer Joe Cocker as like losing a brother.

Dyer, who was brought up in Bermuda, has been touring on and off with Cocker since the early 1970s, and the pair enjoyed a close relationship.

The singer, best known for his raspy voice and who famously covered The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends, died of lung cancer yesterday at the age of 70.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette, Irish-born Dyer said that “Joe was like a brother to me”.

“The music industry is a bit nutty, musicians as a whole are a bit nutty — we are all so close. I played a show with Joe the day the Berlin Wall came down, I’ve played with Joe behind the Iron Curtain, I’ve played with Joe in Rio, in Australia ... we are like family.”

“When I found out [he died] I couldn’t breathe — I stopped, I couldn’t breathe.

“We all thought that he was invincible. We saw him go through everything, he was a rebel from the start.”

In the early 1970s, a Boston band called American Standard discovered Dyer’s talent when they saw him perform on the Island during Spring Break.

They invited him to join the band and from there “great things began to happen”.

During that time, the group connected with Woodstock creator and producer Michael Lang, who was associated with Mr Cocker. It turned out that Mr Cocker was on the lookout for a backup band “that didn’t have any bad habits” and American Standard fit the bill.

They toured the States and Australia and coupled with Island Records mogul Chris Blackwell on two albums.

Due to a combination of “bad management and unfortunate timing” the band broke up and Dyer went on to perform with the likes of Tina Turner.

Cocker invited Dyer back in 1987 for his Unchain My Heart World Tour. It included the Power and Passion Tour featuring the great Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Later in 1989, the Cocker Band recorded the live CD Joe Cocker Live with one of the world’s most respected horn sections, the Memphis Horns.

Not only did Dyer perform with Mr Cocker, he eventually became his musical director.

He recalled: “He really looked to me for a lot of help in terms of getting the band where he wanted it to be. “You had to be very careful with Joe — you had to be more like, ‘I think this … this is what I think’. If you ever said, ‘this is what you should do’, that was a bad move. I just told him how I felt and left it up to him.”

Asked what he was like to work with as a musician, Dyer said: “He’s the type of singer that every musician loves to play with. He just wanted to be the singer in the band — it wasn’t like he was the guy and we were the extras — he was just one of the guys. It’s very unusual at that level.

“He let the guys play, he wasn’t intimidated by anyone and if you raised the bar, he raised the bar further. He was a very important guy and it’s a damn shame he’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

Dyer said he had often talked to Cocker about a possible visit to Bermuda and the singer was very keen but never made it here.

Dyer tries to perform here when he can. He last played here last month with the Bones Band at the tribute concert for the late vet and ocean activist, Neil Burnie.

Dyer grew up performing with many members of the band.

He also performed at the second annual John Lennon Peace Day Concert organised by local promoter Tony Brannon.