Fontella Bass best known for the 1965 R&B hit “Rescue Me” passed away Wednesday from complications from a heart attack suffered weeks prior according to the singer’s daughter, Neuka Mitchell. Bass was 72.
Bass came from a family with deep musical roots. Her mother Martha Bass was a gospel singer and a member 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 (2012)at age 54.
Her surviving family includes four children. Her husband, jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, died in 1999.
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