Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard has paid tribute to his friend and former collaborator Chris Cornell.

In a new interview, Gossard discussed the former Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman, who died by suicide aged 52 in 2017.

Speaking to Kerrang! about seeing a young Cornell performing “punk rock screaming shows,” Gossard said: “He elevated himself in a way that everyone dreams about.

“It was like becoming a superhero or something, in terms of that voice and where it came from and how it was able to be so sensual and so piercing at the same time. He was one of the greatest vocalists of all time.”

Gossard and Cornell played together in the band Temple Of The Dog, who released a single self-titled album in 1990 .

Speaking about Temple Of The Dog, Gossard recalled Cornell’s “generosity in terms of inviting us and our new singer [Eddie Vedder] to make this record that ends up being one of the greatest records of all time, in terms of my perspective.

“He wrote those songs, we recorded them in a week and a half. I don’t even remember being there, basically. But you listen back now and you go, like, ‘How could a 24-year-old have such wisdom in his lyrics?’ He’s touched in those songs.”

Earlier this month, Gossard’s Pearl Jam and Temple Of The Dog bandmate Eddie Vedder also discussed Cornell’s death.

“I’ve had to be somewhat in denial,” Vedder said. “I don’t even feel like I had a choice. I was just terrified where I would go if I allowed myself to feel what I needed to feel or what I was instinctively wanting to feel or how dark I felt like I was gonna go.”