Michael Jackson wanted to work with Cheryl Cole before his death in 2009, it has emerged.

Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am said he told Jackson the Girls Aloud singer and X Factor judge was the “hottest thing in the UK”.

"He would have worked with her, no doubt, and it would have been something special,” Will.i.am told The Sun.

"They are both total perfectionists when it comes to their work so it would have been something really big. It's just a shame it can never happen now."

Will.i.am, a close friend of Cole's, was working with Jackson on new material shortly before his death.

He added that a collaboration between the pair “could have been one of the great collaborations of recent history”.

Meanwhile, he also revealed that he expects Cole to work with the likes of Justin Bieber and Usher when she launches her career in the US.

(by Jason Gregory)