'Rescue Me' singer Fontella Bass dies at 72

American soul singer Fontella Bass, best known for her hit song "Rescue Me," died Wednesday night at age 72, weeks after suffering a heart attack.

Her family said the R&B, soul and gospel singer died at a hospital in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri after complications arose from a December 2 heart attack, according to a local newspaper.

"Yes, sadly it's true," an employee of New York ad agency Universal Attractions, which worked with Bass, confirmed to AFP. The employee asked not to be named.

Born in St. Louis in 1940, the artist achieved her first success in the mid-1960s with a recording of "Don't Mess Up A Good Thing" by soul singer Bobby McClure.

But she was most famous for the R&B anthem "Rescue Me," which stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for four weeks in 1965.