Thursday, December 27, 2012 1:15pm ET by  
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'Rescue Me' singer, Fontella Bass, dies

Fontella Bass, a St. Louis-born soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with 'Rescue Me' in 1965, has died.

The singer's daughter, Neuka Mitchell, says Bass died at a St. Louis hospice on Boxing Day (December 26) of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago. She was 72. 

'Rescue Me' went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. (The latter chart was named Top Selling Rhythm & Blues Singles when it went to No. 1.)

Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was gospel singer Martha Bass, one of the Clara Ward Singers.

Her younger brother, David Peaston, had a string of R&B hits in the 1980s and 1990s.

Peaston died in February at age 54.

Bass' surviving family includes four children. Her husband, jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, died in 1999.

 

 

 

Watch Fontella Bass sing 'Rescue Me' below: