BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Lance Diamond passed away Sunday, but his fans and loved ones sent him off Friday at Kleinhans Music Hall with smiles and music, not tears.

As the Goo Goo Dolls began to play their breakout song "Name," lead singer Johnny Rzeznik reminisced about playing it for Lance Diamond years ago. Diamond told Rzeznik it would be a hit.

The Goo Goo Dolls frontman is just one in a long list of local musicians with a similar version of this story. During his 40-plus years in the Buffalo music scene, Diamond became a friend and a mentor to musicians young and old and from all kinds of genres.

"You know, when he was the hardest working man, off-stage, overnight learning lyrics, trying to get booked, trying to take care of us because all of us musicians were always the guys that were complaining," former band member Bobby Jones said.

"I'm just grateful for the time I had with him. He was a mentor to me," said Robin Wilson, who was one of Diamond's Family Jewels band members. "I played with him for 10 years, and every musician knows when you get someone and you get a gig for 10 years, he used to always say to me, 'Robin Wilson, I'm going to keep you working.' "

Diamond, a man who opened for acts like James Brown, often collaborated with the Goo Goo Dolls and toured the world with the USO, was a star in his own right.

"This guy looked at my passport. He saw I was from Buffalo. He said, 'Do you know Lance Diamond?' This was in The Netherlands," Jones said. "Enough said, right? Enough said."

"You hear the phrase 'a diamond in the rough' where people have so much talent and they have to polish it," Diamond fan James Kay said. "That man was born polished. He had a brilliance that shone."

Hundreds of people came to say goodbye to the legendary lounge singer, and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown proclaimed Jan. 10, 2015, as Lance Diamond Day in the City of Buffalo.

"These people that came here today, they didn't come for a free concert or a tribute. They came to just share their love for him and his love for them," Kay said.