Dave Davies and Dolores O’Riordan had planned to collaborate on music together before she died.
The Kinks guitarist was close friends with the late Cranberries star and he revealed they had discussed working together on a song called ‘Home’ before she passed away after drowning in the bath of a London hotel due to accidental alcohol intoxication in January.
Writing in The Guardian, he said: "We had a mutual respect. We talked about writing together – I had an idea for a song called ‘Home’, about being home again, and she understood what I was trying to say. But we never sat down to do it, and that makes me really sad. She was very kind to me, too. We said we’d meet when she was next in London, and that was that."
Dave also praised Dolores’ "unique" voice and said he admired her talent from the first time he heard her sing.
He said: "Dolores hadn’t had a great time in her life. But the music that came out of her despite everything was incredible. I remember first hearing ‘Zombie’ in the 1990s – that was the first time I was aware of her. Her voice caught me straight away. The way it went from this beautiful, soft whisper with this real Celtic vibe, to this huge rock voice, was fabulous, really unique. She didn’t get enough credit for that."
The Cranberries formed in the early 90s and their first big hit single ‘Linger’ – taken from their debut LP ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ – brought them to the attention of British, American and European audiences in 1993.
The band’s second album ‘No Need To Argue’ was released in 1994 and became a global smash, containing the singles ‘Zombie’, ‘I Can’t Be With You’ and ‘Ode To My Family’.