Denise Matthews, a singer who had previously toured alongside Prince under the mononym Vanity, has passed away at the age of 57 following a struggle with various medical conditions in the last few years of her life. The performer was a controversial star in the 80s, who later became an evangelist minister.

PrinceVanity formerly collaborated with Prince

The former frontwoman of Vanity 6 died in hospital in Fremont, California yesterday (February 15th 2016) and, while she was known to have struggled with several different health complications such as kidney failure and abdominal disorders, it is unknown as of yet what exactly caused her death.

The sad news comes just four months after her failed GoFundMe campaign, set up to raise funds to pay off her medical bills. She told potentional donors that she was suffering from sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis, a small bowel obstruction, but barely raised $7,000 out of the $50,000 target. Her kidney failure was a result of the years of alcohol and drug abuse she partook in during her career, and she was to undergo almost an hour of peritoneal dialysis.

Matthews is best known for singing the Billboard hit 'Nasty Girl', written by Prince, with Vanity 6. The pair continued to work together and even developed a romantic relationship in the 80s. She also ended up dating the likes of Adam Ant, Billy Idol and Nikki Sixx.

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Following a serious crack cocaine overdose, Matthews turned to Christianity having previously admitted that she thought she had been possessed. She led Pure Heart Ministries and wrote the memoir 'Blame It on Vanity'. It was only last year that she was interviewed by Rolling Stone, reflecting on her past behaviour. 'I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over', she said at the time.

According to TMZ, she almost seemed to predict her death with one of her final church appearances when she told the congregation that she was 'ready to go home' on Saturday night.