Late rocker Joe Strummer sent a mobile phone text message to his former bandmate Paul Simonon urging him to consider a Clash reunion, just hours before he died of a heart attack.

The singer passed away at the age of 50 at his home in Somerset, England in 2002.

At the time of his death, Strummer had been working to get The Clash, who split in 1986, back together for a reunion show to coincide with their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

And Simonon has now revealed the last time he heard from his close friend, he was still trying to convince him to rejoin the band on stage.

Simonon says, "It (the text message) said, ‘Come on Paul. Give it a try.’ Joe was up for it. So was Mick (Jones, guitarist) and Topper (Headon, drummer), but I wasn’t. I was the one who always said no.

"In this instance, I really didn’t believe it was the right moment. A big corporate event like that, $4,000 a seat. Nah, that wasn’t in the spirit of The Clash, was it?"