Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Kim Shattuck, frontwoman of punk band the Muffs and one-time member of indie group Pixies, has died after a two-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS. She was 56.
Kevin Sutherland, Shattuck's husband, said in an Instagram post reshared by her Muffs and Coolies bandmate Melanie Vammen that the musician "passed peacefully in her sleep after a two-year struggle with ALS."
"I am the man I am today because of her. She will live with all of us through her music, our shared memories and in her fierce, creative spirit," Sutherland wrote.
Shattuck did not disclose her ALS diagnosis in recent interviews, but announced earlier this year that all proceeds from Uh Oh! It's... The Coolies, a six-song EP released by her band the Coolies, would be donated to ALS Association Golden West Chapter.
The singer explained the disease runs on her father's side of the family.
Friends and bandmates of Shattuck, who played with California hard rock band the Pandoras before founding the Muffs in the early 1990s, shared their feelings on social media.
"We are very sorry to announce the passing of our bandmate and dear friend Kim Shattuck," the Muffs' Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald wrote on Facebook.
"Besides being a brilliant songwriter, rocking guitarist and singer/screamer extraordinaire, Kim was a true force of nature. While battling ALS, Kim produced our last album, overseeing every part of the record from tracking to artwork. She was our best friend and playing her songs was an honor. Goodbye Kimba. We love you more than we could ever say."
Vammen, who played with Shattuck in the Pandoras, the Muffs and the Coolies, wrote on Instagram, "My heart is forever broken."
"So grateful for her friendship. RIP Sweetest Soul," Coolies bandmate Palmyra Delran wrote.
Alt-rock group Veruca Salt tweeted the band was "heartbroken about Kim."
"One of the all time greats. How could anyone be such a brilliant pop songwriter, singer, screamer, and such a total punk-rock badass, and be so insanely cute at the same time? No one funnier or cooler. We love you, Kim," the tweet said.
Shattuck released the album Funtown with side project the Beards, a group including Lisa Marr and Sherri Sollinger, in 2002. She replaced Kim Deal as the bassist for Pixies in 2013, but left the band later that same year, purportedly due to a stage-diving incident.
"When I got offstage, the manager told me not to do that again. I said, 'Really, for my own safety?' And he said, 'No, because the Pixies don't do that,'" Shattuck told NME.
The Muffs, who hit the mainstream when their cover of Kim Wilde's Kids in America appeared on the soundtrack to the hit movie Clueless in 1995, reunited in 2014 and released Whoop Dee Doo, their first album in 10 years.
The Muffs are due to release their latest record, No Holiday, on Oct. 18.
