Mark E. Smith’s Family Confirms Singer’s Cause of Death

Mark E. Smith’s sisters Barbara, Suzanne and Caroline confirmed that singer died from lung and kidney cancer in a short statement posted on The Fall’s website on Monday. Smith’s sisters remembered his perseverance while fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis. Smith died on January 24th at age 60.

“Mark fought a long and hard battle,” they wrote. “He took every treatment going, which could be brutal at times and left Mark with some horrible side effects. Mark was such a strong man and hated letting his fans down and tried to carry on regardless against all advice.”

The bereaved sisters ended their statement with a concise expression of grief. “Mark had a great life and loved and lived it to the full and always by his own rules and we, as his sisters, were privileged to be part of it too,” they added. “Mark is at peace now and pain free, but we, his three sisters have been left heartbroken and will miss our big brother very much.”

Following his death, Billy Bragg, Liam Gallagher, the Pixies, Lisa Stansfield and Cat Power mourned his loss on social media. The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess hailed Smith as a “musical maverick.”

Former bandmate and ex-wife Brix Smith Start also remembered the singer, writing, “He never once compromised … How many others can leave this life with such a singularity of vision?”