Laura Kennedy, bassist for the seminal no wave group Bush Tetras, recently passed away due to complications from Hepatitis C, as pointed out by Pitchfork via Minneapolis’ City Pages.

The bassist has suffered from what she called a “scourge of an illness” for 20 years, and she received a liver transplant in November of 2008 after hers failed. Friends in the punk-rock community of Minnesota banded together to help Kennedy pay for her enormous hospital bills, the result of which was the first Bush Tetras reunion show in the Twin Cities  in 25 years.

Kennedy’s legacy will be forever tied to her New York roots in the early 70’s and 80’s, when Bush Tetras were beginning to gain notoriety as a female punk group in the rough, predominantly male scene. Artists from that era such as Richard Lloyd of Television have expressed their sympathies via social media:

“She was a bright light to those who knew here and will be sorely missed,” Lloyd wrote on his Facebook page after Kennedy’s passing.