Strummer post-mortem due

Strummer died on Sunday at his home in Somerset

A post-mortem examination on the body of punk icon Joe Strummer, who died on Sunday of a suspected heart attack, was due to take place on Tuesday.

The former Clash frontman reportedly collapsed at his home in Somerset after taking his dog for a walk.

His wife Lucinda is said to have tried to resuscitate him on the kitchen floor, but was unable to revive him.

His family "request privacy at this harrowing time", a spokesman for Strummer said on Monday.

But they asked that, instead of floral tributes, money should be paid to the forthcoming Nelson Mandela SOS fundraising concert in South Africa, which is raising money for Aids campaigns on the continent.

Strummer had agreed to take part in February's concert, to be held on Robben Island, the site of Mandela's former jail.

He had begun work on the third album with his new band The Mescaleros.

Strummer had just finished a UK tour with the band, which had ended in Liverpool in November.

Strummer formed a new band, The Mescaleros, in the late 1990s

But his musical legacy will be remembered for the decade he spent with The Clash, the politicised punk band who went from the streets of west London to international stardom.

They were the only one of the original wave of British punk bands to meet runaway success in the US.

They played the Shea Stadium - where The Beatles played their last gigs - in 1982, as support to The Who.

Stars from Bono of U2 to the Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire and left-wing songwriter Billy Bragg paid tribute to the punk star.

U2 frontman Bono paid tribute to Strummer on Monday saying: "The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rule book for U2. It's such a shock."

Billy Bragg said: "I have a great admiration for the man. His most recent records are as political and edgy as anything he did with The Clash. His take on multi-cultural Britain in the 21st Century is far ahead of anybody else."