Cee-Lo Green was planning to record with Amy Winehouse shortly before she died.

The ‘Bright Lights Big City’ hitmaker had been in talks to sing with the ‘Rehab’ singer shortly before her sudden unexplained death on Saturday (23.07.11), after being introduced by producer Salaam Remi, who had produced tracks on her two albums ‘Frank’ and ‘Back to Black’ and was working on new material with her when she died.

Cee Lo told the E! News Network’s Marc Malkin: “We were discussing working together. We have a mutual friend, Salaam Remi.

“There was a rumour that we had already recorded together. It wasn’t true and I don’t know where that came from. But we did grow find of each other and thought we could work together.”

Soul singer Cee Lo said he felt able to connect with the honest Amy conveyed in her music and paid tribute to her.

He added: “I could listen to her and she registered to me as the real thing. It’s so untimely and unfortunate. What a loss. Music has lost a daughter.”

Amy was cremated yesterday (26.07.11) in a private Jewish ceremony in London attended by her family, including parents Mitch and Janis, brother Alex, boyfriend Reg Traviss, and a host of close friends such as producer Mark Ronson – who worked with her on Back to Black – and Kelly Osbourne.