X-Ray Spex's Poly Styrene has died of cancer aged 53. 

The punk icon and frontwoman, real name Marianne Elliott-Said, passed away last night, April 25, after fighting a battle with the disease. A message has been posted on her official Twitter page that reads:

"We can confirm that the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter, won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places. PSTeam."

Tributes have been flooding in on the social networking site and Boy George paid his respects, tweeting:

"I was a fan of Poly before I got to know her, she was a Krishna follower too, oh bless you Polly you will be missed! Legend!"

The star recently released her solo album, 'Generation Indigo', and during an interview with emusic.com she expressed a wish to take the record to the stage, but added:

"right now I can only hope, and need to concentrate on getting better."

Watch her talk about her impressive music career here: