Gustavo Cerati, one of South America’s popular rock artists, has died, four years after falling into a coma.

Gustavo Cerati, 55, suffered a stroke at the end of a concert in May 2010 in Venezuela and never recovered.

The Argentine musician was the lead singer of the Soda Stereo band, which achieve huge success across the Spanish-speaking world in the 1980s.

Gustavo Cerati later pursued a successful solo career and worked with younger artists, including Colombian star Shakira.

In her Twitter account, Shakira paid a tribute to the late artist: “Gustavo, our most important song is yet to be written. I love you, my friend. And I know you love me.”

Gustavo Cerati died from a respiratory arrest on September 4 at a Buenos Aires clinic.

Gustavo Cerati suffered a stroke at the end of a concert in May 2010 in Venezuela and never recovered (photo Getty Images)

Soda, as the band was better known, was formed in 1982 by Gustavo Cerati – guitarist and vocalist – bass player Hector “Zeta” Bosio and drummer Charly Alberti.

It was a period that coincided with a deep economic crisis in South America with the beginning of the end of the military regimes that had thrived in the previous decade.

Argentina had just lost the Falklands War, which precipitated the end of the dictatorship.

The band’s biggest hits – Cuando Pase el Temblor, Musica Ligera and La Ciudad de la Furia – became anthems for a whole generation in Latin America and Spain in the 1980s and 1990s.

Soda split up in 1997 but reunited briefly in 2007 for a farewell tour.

In a 2006 interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, Gustavo Cerati talked about cocaine binges in his days with the band.

Gustavo Cerati also said that he had stopped smoking after a health scare.

“After you reach 40, these situations force you to change your way of life,” he said.

[youtube KdkbaOvED04 650]