Fontella Bass dies after heart attack complications Rescue Me by Fontella Bass peaked at No 11 in the UK Fontella Bass, the soul singer who topped the US R&B charts with Rescue Me in 1965, has died. The singer's daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said Bass died at a St Louis hospice on Wednesday night of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago. The 72-year-old, who had suffered several strokes since 2005, is survived by three other children. Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was the 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. He died in February, aged 54. Her husband, the jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, died in 1999.