The Troggs rocker Chris Britton has paid a heartfelt tribute to the band's frontman Reg Presley, hailing his pal as a "brilliant" performer.

The guitarist was an original member of the Wild Thing hitmakers and has been left devastated by Presley's death on Monday (04Feb13) after a battle with lung cancer.

Britton tells the Bbc, "He's one of those people who, once you knew him, you never forgot. He'll always be there... He was a very positive character, he had a weird and wonderful sense of humour. A good bloke, and a very reliable bloke to work with."

Presley was diagnosed with lung cancer after falling ill during a Troggs concert in Germany in 2011, and Britton now regrets taking to the stage that evening as the singer had already shown signs of poor health.

Britton says, "He was performing alright but you could tell something wasn't quite right. When we got back and talked about it, we realised we should really have not gone to do the gig in the first place, because he was showing signs of being tired and confused on the way."

Presley passed away aged 71 on Monday at his home in Andover, England.