The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger says he regrets not staying closer to David Bowie in the months before his death.

Speaking with The Mirror, Jagger said he hadn't seen Bowie for "a long time" before he died.

"I was listening to his album Blackstar before he died and ahead of it coming out," he began.

"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."

"What he was going through must have been really wrenching," Jagger added, noting he was unaware of Bowie's cancer diagnosis.

"But working and doing such good work until the very end is really laudable."

Following Bowie's death in January, Jagger was among the first to publish his condolences.

"David was always an inspiration to me and a true original," he said. "He was wonderfully shameless in his work.

We had so many good times together . . . he was my friend, I will never forget him."