The indigenous singer-songwriter and guitarist has lost a number of friends and relatives to suicide and as a young man he made an attempt on his own life.

Roach will share his timeless music as one of the special guests at a Winter Solstice Eve night in QEII Square on Friday, June 21, organised by The Survivors of Suicide and Friends, before going on to Soden's that night for a special gig in the hotel's Stable Bar.

Keynote speakers at the Winter Solstice Eve event include 2010 Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry, professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, Suicide Prevention Australia chief executive officer Susan Murray and Jennifer Watterson, who lost her older brother to suicide.

Billed as an evening of food, music, warmth and words, the get-together will also shine a light on young Border musicians Emma Percy and Paul Dyason and students from Albury High School's choir and drama group.

Writer David Astle, Father Peter MacLeod-Miller from Albury's St Matthew's Church and Wiradjuri elder Nancy Rooke will also take part.

Soden's function manager Rachelle Brady says Soden's was pleased to be able to host such a highly admired and talented performer as Archie Roach.

"We're expecting a sell-out crowd and we're looking forward to this event and creating more awareness about The Survivors of Suicide and Friends and suicide prevention," she says.

Roach, who was born in Mooroopna near Shepparton, discovered as a young man that he and his sisters had been forcibly removed from their family, a revelation that made him angry and hurt.

Penniless and trying to make sense of his upbringing, he travelled to Sydney and Adelaide and spent time living on the streets, experiencing periods of alcoholism and despair.

"When I was on the street and I was drinking quite heavily every day, I was just a young man - that was a slow form of suicide," he says.

"I'll be honest, I ended up in hospital and went to a psychiatric hospital, so yeah it was an attempt at one time and all that I can remember is waking up in Adelaide in a hospital, strapped to a bed.

"Suicide has been around for a long time and I suppose it's only coming out into the open now."

Roach says suicide is something that affects many more people, particularly in the indigenous community, than most realise.

"And the really worrying thing about it is that it's children, young people committing suicide," he says.

"It's close to my heart."

Roach says he can't stress too much the importance of occasions like the Winter Solstice Eve event.

"We need to get behind these events in any form and any group that is involved in the prevention or awareness of suicide, particularly youth suicide, is important," he says.

"You wonder why as you start to grow, as you start to mature, why you get into these moods of depression and you're really not quite sure what it is, but it's something you've got to try and deal with.

"It's good to do that with other people."

Roach says his music has helped him get through times of despair and loneliness, an "amazing way of making a place to be and a place to go when you're going through hard times".

"Not just playing my own music and singing my own songs, but listening to stuff I love, other music that has a healing effect on me," he says.

"When I'm on my own I suppose I just love to pick up the guitar and sing some songs - it's just a good feeling."

What Roach really enjoys about performing is what he gets back from the audience.

"It's a beautiful place to be - it's a give and take thing, you both give to each other," he says.