Kim Shattuck, who made an impact on the Los Angeles music scene with her band The Muffs and several other projects, died today after a two-year battle with ALS. She was 56 and her death was announced in an Instagram post by her husband, Kevin Sutherland.
“This morning the love of my life Kim passed peacefully in her sleep after a two year struggle with ALS,” Sutherland said in the post. “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. I love you always my Kimmy. Thank you for sharing your life with me.”
The Muffs were planning to release their first album in five years, No Holiday, in two weeks.
“We are very sorry to announce the passing of our bandmate and dear friend Kim Shattuck,” the Muffs’ Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald said in a statement. “Besides being a brilliant songwriter, rocking guitarist and singer/screamer extrodinaire, 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.” The Muffs’ next album No Holiday is set for an October 18 release.
Shattuck and best friend Melanie Vammen were members of the Pandoras, then moved to the Muffs after that act broke up. They issued a 1992 single on Sub Pop, I Need You, with their self-titled debut album released on Warner Bros. Records.
That major label stint led to the band’s cover of Kim Wilde’s Kids in America, which appeared on the Clueless soundtrack in 1995. After that, The Muffs issued four albums, going on hiatus after 2004’s Really Really Happy.
Shattuck was also briefly a touring member of the Pixies following Kim Deal’s departure from the band.
Following her departure from The Pixies, The Muffs came back and released 2014’s Whoop Dee Do. Shattuck and Vammen also collaborated in a new band, The Coolies, which released an EP earlier this year titled Uh Oh! It’s…The Coolies. Proceeds went to ALS research.
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