Pleasure and pain of rock pioneer Amphlett Chrissy Amphlett boasted a distinctive rock ' n' roll rasp that was powerful and seductive. TRIBUTES flooded in yesterday for Chrissy Amphlett, one of Australia's most revered female rock singers, who died at her New York home after a three-year battle with breast cancer. The 53-year-old star, who had been suffering from multiple sclerosis since the mid-2000s, was surrounded by her family, including US drummer husband Charley Drayton and her cousin Patricia Thompson, better known as Little Pattie. "Chrissy was a true pioneer and a treasure to all whose lives her music and spirit touched," Thompson said on behalf of the family. She passed gently, in her sleep, surrounded by close friends and family. Amphlett rose to prominence in the 1980s as the provocative vocalist for the Divinyls, a band she formed with guitarist Mark McEntee, with whom she also had a volatile relationship throughout the band's career. In ripped stockings and schoolgirl uniform, she drew attention to herself, but backed it up with a distinctive rock 'n' roll rasp that was powerful and seductive. The Divinyls got their first break recording songs for a film in which Amphlett appeared as an actress, Monkey Grip, in 1982. From there the band went on to have a string of hits, including Boys in Town, Science Fiction and Pleasure and Pain. In 1991, the Divinyls broke through worldwide, scoring a top 10 hit in Britain, the US and Australia with the song I Touch Myself, a title so provocative it was banned in some US states. The Divinyls broke up in 1996, after which Amphlett devoted herself to the stage. In 1988, she appeared alongside Russell Crowe in the Australian production Blood Brothers. Crowe tweeted yesterday: "RIP Chrissie Amphlett, (she) played my mum in Blood Brothers, 1988." Others who paid tribute included Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke, who tweeted: "She came onstage each night holding her skirt up around her ears, death-staring and pouting at the audience. So gutsy and cool. Vale Chrissy. Amphlett, born in Geelong, had lived in New York for many years with Drayton, the drummer for Cold Chisel for their comeback tour in 2011. Amphlett performed in The Boy From Oz alongside Hugh Jackman in 2006, the same year that the Divinyls were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.