Beloved friend Colin Vearncombe has died I have just learned. This Liverpudlian songwriter was originally known as “Black”. As a 17 year old in 1987 in New Zealand I first listened to the album and the hit Wonderful Life (courtesy of Chris Tobias at his parents house on their stereo). I later bought the cassette/CD myself.

In 2003 Debra Webb and I were doing the Landmark Communication Course in London which is a year long course that involved travelling to different locations and Colin was a mentor. He struck us as a beautiful, softly spoken, gentle, calm, slightly self-deprecating, warm, witty guy.

We were doing a course in Majorca (we were about 6 months into our course) and Debra and I were sitting about two rows back from the front of the stage. About 60 people were there.

We were wrapping up for the weekend and we had all had such extraordinary breakthroughs, then the course leader said that Colin had something to say. I remember a few hushed whispers when Colin got out his guitar and Debra and I looked at each other quite surprised. This quiet lovely man was going to sing us a song.

He played Wonderful Life. I couldn’t believe that he was playing one of my all time favourite songs.

Then I realised that he wasn’t playing a cover, he was playing his song. He was “Black”.

Colin belted that song out with all his heart. For him it summed up how he felt so liberated in that moment about what he had seen from the coursework. We were doing a communication programme and this was his ultimate all-encapsulating communication to us.

For me — I was in awe, rapture and a wave of love washed over me. This guy was so incredible that he did not need to talk about his accomplishments or he didn’t want that to get in between meeting people and hanging out with them.

As he finished singing and stood there while we applauded like crazy on our feet, I felt like giving something back. I went up and gave him the biggest hug and tears were streaming down my face. He was pretty overcome with emotion also.

Years later we reconnected in about 2009. I had written a screenplay and wanted to talk about the soundtrack with Colin. My idea was to get him to work with Samoan artists Pos Mavaega, Tanya Muagututi’a and Scribe (Jeshua Ioane Luafutu) to both re-work Wonderful Life and create the rest of the soundtrack. He loved the idea and when I told him about everyone’s talents he mentioned he might want to infuse the Ukulele sound. He thought he would use that as a point of connection because he loved the instrument and it’s widely used in Polynesian music.

I never took that project any further.

I know this is a long post, but I now want to share with you an experience I just had moments after learning about Colin’s death. Bear with me (or come back to this) because I need to lay out the context:

I have just spent 3 days with Peter Diamandis (author of Abundance, Bold, creator of X-Prize which amongst other initiatives gave rise to Virgin Galactic) in Los Angeles looking at technology impacts on the planet… One of the sessions today was about finding your Massively Transformative Purpose in life — one thing that you are deeply passionate about that impacts the world and that you can make money at.

Mine is to launch a global television show about exponential technology to highlight the tsunami of change that is coming our way. The first major creative endeavour since I shelved that screenplay and film project (shelved due to lack of focus and confidence I guess).

Peter Diamandis has taught more about the technology waves that are about to hit us in the short and medium term than anyone else I have ever come across. My mind has been blown open these past 3 days. Meeting visionaries like Ray Kurzweil who have an 86% success rate in predicting the future trends (specifically and to the year).

One of the things that we learned is about the advancement in medical science and how we are going to live for a very very long time. That the world is going to be connected by 2 hour journeys to get pretty much anywhere. That we will have a huge increase in safety on all levels with greater automation. That medical drones will get to people who do have accidents and robotics will be able to save lives. That the future of computers is holographic imagery which is coming out this year and I got to play with it and watch a holographic satellite go around a holographic planet. Many of the big problems including poverty and disease are going to be solved.

When I read a text from Debra, that Colin had finally died as a result of a major a car crash some days ago, I lay on my bed at 2am in the darkness with my iPhone and Spotify and I played Wonderful Life twice over. I closed my eyes and I thought of that hotel room in Majorca.

At some point I drifted away somewhere else. I was looking at a rock concert only this one was all over planet earth. It was like Heaven on Earth thanks to technology innovation on a scale that’s unfathomable. Seriously. We had cracked disease, we had cracked poverty, we were able to light up the world (looking from space I could see lights dancing around the planet like a rock concert lighting system); and we were able to come together — 7bn people — for an event that was both performed on flying stages in the upper atmosphere and also viewed up close with virtual reality googles. There was so much abundance from automation that we were doing the work that inspired us.

And then it dawned on me — I’m listening to Colin’s song. He is passing from this world to the next right now. I am getting a vision. Whether it’s right or what your opinion is of the vision is not so much the point… The point is the synthesis of all of these experiences and the connection once more to the great man on his passing from this world.

I truly believe in the future of autonomous vehicles. I can’t wait. I have been studying them along with road safety guru Martin Small a good friend at Uber running product and Peter Diamandis — they are going to really and truly save millions of lives.

Colin my friend — what a journey. Farewell my beautiful fellow. What a wonderful life.

Here now is a clip I found on YouTube and it is the most beautiful performance to a studio audience in Germany.

You really do get the measure of this great man. Enjoy the magic of Colin Vearncombe…