Mick Jagger was deeply affected by David Bowie’s death, not least because he dearly wished he had got in touch with his old pal before he died from terminal liver cancer in New York.

It was made more painful by the fact Mick was in the city when the news broke – recording in Greenwich Village, a short walk from Bowie’s apartment.

“I was listening to his album before he died and ahead of it coming out,” he says.

“I thought I must get in touch with him as I hadn’t seen him in long time. But he died almost immediately after that. I was very upset.”

Mick said he was left mesmerised by Bowie’s almost prophetic last video Lazarus, in which he sings: “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”

Mick, like the rest of the world, had no idea Bowie was secretly battling cancer.

He says: “What he was going through must have been really wrenching. But working and doing such good work until the very end is really laudable.”

Mick and David, who was four years younger, became firm friends in the early 1970s, sharing a love of writing, photography and music. They duetted on Dancing in the Street for Live Aid.

Read more:Mick pays tribute to Bowie

They also discussed sartorial matters. Mick says: “He had sense of what he wanted to project and what he wanted to be personality-wise ...he was rather chameleon like in that respect.

"He chose rather good designers to work and had a tremendous sense of style and verve that took his stage act to another level.

(Image: Getty Images)

“He was a bit like Grace Jones in some respects, she did the same sort of thing. In a certain way, that’s a lot of superficiality... but for someone like Lady Gaga or Bowie, it’s part and parcel of their sense of style and the projection of their inner self.”