DJ Fresh to Ray Phiri: 'You saved me from depression'

In the wake of Ray Phiri's death, DJ Fresh has penned an emotional letter revealing that the veteran musician helped rescue him from a "dark hell" of depression as a teenager.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday evening, Fresh reflected on how as a teenager he was hit by several big tragedies in a row, including his mom leaving the country, his friend moving overseas and breaking up with his girlfriend.

It was during these struggles that Ray's example, and music gave Fresh courage to fight his demons and stop his decline into "a lonely, dark hell".

"Most break times were spent alone with my thoughts, and these gradually started being those of suicide," he revealed.

He explained that it was during this time that an interview with Ray gave him the courage to fight off suicidal thoughts.

"You spoke of how much of a recluse you were. About the loneliness that came with it. How despite all the fame, constant attention etc- there was still a loneliness (and a) void! Reading how my idol was going through what I was feeling, was all I needed to snap out of it and start embracing that there is a massive, bright future ahead of me and suicide can't be an option," Fresh wrote.

Fresh said his biggest sadness was not in Ray's death but in the fact that he never took the chance to thank Ray for "saving" him.

Ray died in a Nelspruit hospital on Wednesday after a long battle with lung cancer.