STARS joined hundreds of fans to pay their finals respects to Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield at his funeral in Manchester (Monday, December 21).

The musician, who died aged 63 last month, spent a large part of the early 1990s living in Monmouth while recording the band’s second album, and made lifelong friendships here.

Bez, of seminal ‘Madchester’ band Happy Mondays, who lives near Abergavenny, said outside Manchester Cathedral: “He was a proper one of the boys, everyone loved him... he’ll be truly missed".

"We've just got a massive history together, sharing a history like that it's special. He's part of the Manchester heritage".

Oasis and Charlatans frontmen Liam Gallagher and Tim Burgess - also Rockfield legends – joined Mani’s Roses bandmates Ian Brown, John Squire, and Alan Wren, plus the likes of Paul Weller, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, who he also played with, Peter Hook, and footballers Sir David Beckham and Gary Neville among mourners.

Brown told the service: “Mani was like a brother to me, a musical comrade. Beautiful soul and spirit.

"Mani was able to laugh his way through any darkness. He was the life and soul of any room he was in.

“Mani wouldn’t want us to be broken-hearted but we are".”

Gillespie added: "Mani's warm and welcoming manner, treating me like an equal, made me feel like a million dollars and I’ll never forget that.

"No-one was too important to escape his laser-eye ability to cut the pretentious and self-important down to size, myself included!

"His ability to make laughter out of any situation was our great value wherever we were in the world."

Monmouth record producer Nick Brine, who started as a teenager working with the Roses, said after his passing: “He and they meant so much to me and so many others.

"He just became a Monmouth lad. Loads knew him, in the pubs and shops. He became friendly with lots of local people, he was just Mani to everyone.”