John Peel
There's not much I can add that hasn't already been said about the sad death of John Peel. He seemed a genuinely decent chap and it'll be strange without him.
In one of my previous incarnations, I was a failed rock star and one of the highlights of our career was when John Peel played our single on his Radio 1 show.
We really felt then that we were part of some kind of (admittedly, not very exclusive) club. The fact that he had listened to it and decided to play it really meant a lot to us. Even though we knew that at times he played all sorts of rubbish, it was his of seal of approval and we felt that if it was good enough for John Peel it was good enough for anyone.
Cheers John.