Montserrat Caballe, a Spanish singer who released hit single Barcelona with Freddie Mercury, has died aged 85.

Montserrat died this morning at Sant Pau Hospital in the Catalan capital.

She had been in hospital since the middle of last month following a spell of ill health. Her funeral is expected to take place on Monday.

The operatic soprano's song with Queen frontman Freddie was originally released in 1987.

Montserrat and Freddie collaborated on the hit single Barcelona (
Image:
Mirror Syndication International)
Their song appears on Queen's Greatest Hits III (
Image:
Daily Mirror)

It was one of the biggest hits of the late vocalist's solo career, reaching number eight in the UK charts.

After Freddie's death in 1991, it was featured at the 1992 Summer Olympics and reached number 2 in the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

His Queen co-star Brian May has paid tribute to Montserrat with a snap of Freddie singing with the opera diva.

"RIP dear Montsy - inspiration to us all but especially to Freddie. Your beautiful voice will be with us forever. Bri," he wrote next to it.

Caballe, who turned 85 in April, had been suffering from ill health for years after having a stroke in 2012.

Montserrat had been ill for a while before her death (
Image:
AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
She and Freddie performing at Spain's Cultural Olympiad in the 80s (
Image:
Mirrorpix)



She was excused from attending her tax fraud trial in Barcelona in 2015 because of her poor health and appeared at a court hearing via video link.

She ended up paying a fine of 254,000 euro (£223,000) and accepting a six-month suspended jail sentence as part of a deal with prosecutors.

The diva, hailed as one of the world's greatest voices ever, had been placed under investigation in 2014 after being accused of channelling earnings through a company in Andorra when she lived in Barcelona.

The diva in her dressing room at the New Theatre, Cardiff, in 1976 (
Image:
South Wales Echo)
The 85-year-old singer spent more than 50 years travelling the world

She toured the world in a career spanning 50 years, achieving international acclaim in 1965 when she stepped in for another singer in the difficult role of Lucrezia Borgia in Donizetti's opera in New York.

Her performance made her famous throughout the opera world.

She made her first appearance at Covent Garden in 1972.

She had two children with Spanish tenor Bernabe Marti who she married in 1964.