A former lead guitarist for 1990s ''Madchester'' rock group Northside hanged himself after he suffered from bouts of loneliness, an inquest heard.
Tim Walsh, 51, is feared to have lain dead at his home for up seven days before he was found by worried work colleagues when he failed to turn up for a shift.
In his heyday the musician had played alongside top indie bands including Happy Mondays, The Farm and La's and appeared at the Brit awards and later worked as a sound engineer on the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.
But in the run up his death in August last year Mr Walsh, a divorced father of one who lived alone in Wilmslow, Cheshire was suffering low moods and had expressed thoughts of taking his own life.
His college student daughter Amber Walsh told the Macclesfield hearing: ''He had been physically healthy but I wasn’t actually aware of him being given any medication for mental health issues such as depression.
“I was also not aware of any previous incidents of self harm or suicidal thought although he did seem to have periods of low mood.
“But I spoke to my grandmother and it seemed there had been an incident some time in the previous year when he said he wanted to end his life whilst driving on the motorway.
“She had persuaded him not to and he then stayed at her home for a period of time. He would often ring me late at night and he would sometimes sound quite down and lonely.
“But he was always asking questions about upcoming events and other matters. He was going on a trip with some friends to Benidorm and he sounded upbeat about that and was looking forward to having some down time with friends and colleagues.
“I last saw my father on July 12, at a family wedding. He then went on holiday but I did speak to him numerous times after the that - like on his birthday when we were taking about my graduation.
“I last spoke to him on August 9. I did send him a text on August 16 but he didn’t respond.''
Mr Walsh's next door neighbour Kara McDonald, said: “Tim always seemed a happy and a really nice and polite man. On Monday August 12, I did mention to my partner that I was worried his car hadn’t moved for a few days.
“I went to the shops but as I was coming up the pathway I saw Tim. We stopped had a chat and Tim said he was absolutely fine.
"He said he had booked a few weeks off work so he could chill out at his house.”
In a statement Mr Walsh's work colleague Steven Conron, said: “Tim had been on two weeks annual leave and was due back in at 8am on August 19. About half eight we were notified that Tim wasn’t in work.
“The resources team tried to call and text him and I did as well. We called three or four times but the phone would just ring out. About 11am I decided to visit his home because it was so out of character.
“When we arrived we initially saw Tim’s car a blue BMW, and knocked loudly but there was no answer. Looked through the window and the other colleague looked through the letter box and could see Tim in the kitchen.”
The inquest heard how the sound engineer could have been dead for a few days as the post mortem examination was unable to put an exact date on Mr Walsh’s death.
There were no suspicious circumstances. Tests showed traces of alcohol and cannabis in his system.
Coroner Peter Sigee recorded a conclusion of death bv suicide and said: “I recognise that Mr Walsh had been deceased from some time before that but I’m not going to be able to tell you what that precise time was.
"I reiterate my condolences to Timothys family and I’m very sorry that we had to meet and I had to learn about Timothy in these circumstances.”
Writing on Twitter at the time of his death his band mates said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this as we are all still in shock, but our brother, friend, guitarist and inspiration Tim Walsh, has passed away.
"All our thoughts and love are with his family and friends. We are absolutely gutted."
"Dermo, Woll and Cliff XXX."
Northside had three top 40 singles and a top 20 album with Chicken Rhythms.
Their song "Shall We Take A Trip" was banned by the BBC for its many references to LSD) but despite the lack of airplay it eventually broke into the Top 50 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also used as Granada TV's Soccer Night theme tune throughout the 1990s.
The band was named Northside because all the members came from the north side of Manchester, Blackley and Moston. They split in 1992 after the demise of Factory Records, although reunion tours followed.
