Damon Albarn says Bobby Womack will "never leave" him on his own.
The Blur star has paid tribute to the late musician - who died last month aged 70 - and admitted he has struggled to "accept that he's not there anymore".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's 'The Last Word', he said: "In a strange way, I find it very hard to sort of accept that he's not there anymore. For me, he feels very present and I don't quite understand why.
"He taught me things that will never leave me, and he will never leave me."
Damon collaborated with Bobby - who suffered from a number of health problems, including diabetes, pneumonia and colon cancer - on 'Stylo' from Gorillaz's album 'Plastic Beach'.
He said: "He was quite nervous about, one, working with people he'd never met before, but also just the act of getting back in the studio because he'd been really sort of sitting on a couch in LA for many years.
"I didn't really give him any kind of brief and he literally just stood there for 45 minutes just singing. Finally at the end there was a silence. I put my arm around him and he was quite cold. I thought maybe he was going to collapse.
"Some sort of inner voice said to me, 'Go and get him a banana'. And I came back and gave him the banana and he was absolutely fine, but I had no idea he had diabetes."
Tagged in Blur Damon Albarn Bobby Womack