Brian 'Licorice' Locking's sister has paid tribute to the famous Grantham musician who died on Thursday (8 Oct).

Eighty-one-year-old Brian had been ill for some time and passed away peacefully in a north Wales hospice.

He was bass guitarist with The Shadows between 1962 and 1963 and appeared with the band and frontman Sir Cliff Richard in the film Summer Holiday, who as Nub News reported, also paid tribute to the singer.

Although Brian was only young when he moved from his Bedworth birthplace with his parents to Grantham, he still has family in Bedworth, Nuneaton and Coventry.

His sister Barbara Wilson told Nub News: "Brian is my biggest hero and I miss him tremendously.

"He went to primary and secondary school in Grantham then worked at several places in the town, notably as a fireman on various steam locomotives and as a tailor's assistant.

"He then went to the 2i's coffee bar in London's Soho, where he worked with many musical artistes of the time such as Eddie Cochrane, Tommy Steele and Adam Faith - between playing in the resident band.

"He became famous with Marty Wilde & The Wildcats then, of course, with Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

"Until his illness, Brian was a great ambassador for The Shadows as well as instrumental and harmonica music and travelled extensively all over the world.

"His musical friends will tell you how much he is loved by them all."

Barbara fondly remembers Brian's sense of humour, his sociable nature and his skills as a talented raconteur.

"Brian always loved talking to people and would spend hours in the company of others - whilst totally disregarding his own health needs of eating and drinking!

"He loved telling funny stories too, about his antics and being a bit accident prone - there were a lot of them - and he did the actions.

"It was hilarious to listen to and watch him.

"His famous action was a 'chicken walk' across the stage when coming on after being introduced.

"Once, while playing his harmonica to a packed audience in France, his long microphone was faulty and gradually started going down - Brian went down with it and ended up lying on the stage still playing his harmonica.

"The audience was in fits of laughter!"