According to her friends Phillipe Marcade, Bebe Buell, and Legs McNeil, Sable Starr passed away in her sleep last Friday of cancer. She was 51 years old. Her death has not yet been confirmed by official sources, but those closest to her have been posting tributes to her since yesterday on the internet. Most people learned the sad news in a posting on Legs McNeil’s Facebook, which was in response to an email sent to him from Phillippe Marcade. McNeil has given LAist permission to reprint the email, which said, “Hi Legs, Sweet Sable died of cancer, in her sleep, last friday night. I (sic) taledk to her boyfriend Bill this morning….We’ll miss her dearly. Phil”

Sable Starr was born Sable Shields in Palos Verdes in 1958 (some sources say 1957). She has been known as a scenester and a socialite, but she is most often referred to as a supergroupie. Hanging out at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, she got to know musicians such as T-Rex and Mott The Hoople. It is rumored that she dated Keith Richards, Richard Hell, and Iggy Pop. Probably her most well-known romance was with Johnny Thunders of The New York Dolls. She moved out to New York with Thunders in the 70s, but soon returned to Los Angeles. Their ill-fated love story is told in the Iggy Pop song, “Look Away”.

Bebe Buell posted this tribute on Facebook;

She has several brain tumors- small ones. It was too late to do anything once she found out. She was not alone- she had her BF and her daughter. Her attitude was good and she went peacefully. Just went to sleep on Friday night- April 17th- and never woke up.

According to her fan site, Sable Starr has been most recently living in Nevada with her two children. Starr has been quoted as saying, “ It was so hard to talk about things. My life has been so normal for the last 20 years….its was fun. Although, when I left the scene, I left it for good.”