Early this morning, NME confirmed that Poly Styrene, also known as Marian Joan Elliott-Said, has died. Shortly thereafter, the following message was sent via the singer's Twitter.

Poly Styrene, whose work with X-Ray Spex made her a punk rock legend, was 53 years old. She had been battling cancer.

Rumors that Poly Styrene had died surfaced late in the afternoon on April 25, spreading through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and were first reported by our sister paper OC Weekly. Though the singer's Facebook page was crammed with RIP messages, there was no official word from her camp until just before 10:30 a.m. in the UK (2:30 a.m. in Los Angeles).

Poly Styrene's solo album, Generation Indigo, is set for release today. It came out in the UK last month.