Mark E. Smith's cause of death has been revealed.
Mark E. Smith
The Fall frontman sadly passed away at the age of 60 on January 24, and now his sisters Barbara, Suzanne and Caroline, have confirmed in a statement that he lost a "long" and "hard" fight with lung and kidney cancer, which saw him bravely battle "horrible side affects" from treatment.
In the message posted on the iconic band's website, they said: "We would like to thank family, friends and fans for all their kind words, condolences and memories about our brother Mark.
Also, the N.H.S and staff who treated Mark throughout and Mark's partner Pam who loved, cared and cherished our brother.
"Mark fought a long and hard battle after his diagnosis of terminal lung and kidney cancer.
"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.
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.
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. (sic)"
The 'Big New Prinz' hitmaker had been suffering with ill health after having a tooth removed because of an abscess, and last year the band admitted Mark had been having a "rough year" with his health.
A separate statement shared earlier in the year read: "Despite the incredible progress Mark has made after a pretty rough year health-wise, he has now been rendered unfit to fly due to further dental/respiratory problems.
"This is all sudden (tooth out yesterday, has an abscess) and we thought about risking it and trying to get there, but ultimately decided on the right thing... health first. (sic)"
The Fall formed in Manchester in 1976, and a number of stars revealed how influential they had been following the news of Mark's death, including Liam Gallagher, Tim Burgess and Billy Bragg.