DRUMMER Jim Capaldi has left £1.5m to his relatives in his will, following his death earlier this year.

The Evesham-born musician and member of psychedelic rock group Traffic died of cancer at the end of January surrounded by his family at his Buckinghamshire home.

It came after the 60-year-old was diagnosed with stomach cancer a month before.

He left a total of £1,511,002 to relatives and probate has been granted to his widow Ana Emilia Capaldi, of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Mr Capaldi was born in Evesham's Avonside Hospital and spent his childhood there in Cowl Street and Fairfield.

The father-of-two then moved to Marlow in Buckinghamshire, but returned regularly to visit his father Nick Capaldi, who lives in the town's Battleton Road, where his family had set up an ice cream parlour.

Before rising to fame with Traffic - for whom he also wrote songs - he played with his teenage band The Hellions when he worked in a Worcester factory.

After the band split in 1970, he struck out on his own and wrote hits for other bands, before they reformed in 1994 and toured the country.

Worcester's Marr's Bar manager Brian Maher said the drummer's visit to the Pierpoint Street music venue about two years ago was one of the highlights there. Speaking to the Worcester News yesterday, he recalled how fellow Traffic member Steve Winwood turned up to watch the drummer and he coaxed him on stage.

"I saw a pint of Guinness sat on the bar and said 'whose is that?' and someone said 'it's that guy's there' and I turned around and saw it was Steve Winwood," he said.

"There was no way I was going to have them both in the same venue and not get him on stage and so I did. It was magical - it was absolutely fantastic and there was definitely a bit of Marr's Bar history being made that night.

"Jim was a nice guy and really easy to talk to. Considering all the things he's done he was here and just acted like a normal person."