( CNN ) Best known for launching the 1970 's all-girl punk rock band the Runaways , producer and manager Kim Fowley has died . He was 75 . `` It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Kim Fowley , '' independent music publisher Peer Music announced on its website Thursday . `` With a career in the music business spanning over fifty years , Fowley was a singularly unique figure in the realms of rock history . '' Fowley worked with a wide range of artists , including Paul Revere and the Raiders , the Modern Lovers , Blue Cheer , Kiss and Helen Reddy . But he will be remembered in the rock and roll history books for helping form the California punk band , the Runaways . That all-female group , which featured Joan Jett , released four albums in the late 1970s . One of their hit songs was `` Cherry Bomb . '' The band , which became an overnight sensation , broke up in 1979 . `` There was a lurid quality to what he was trying to do '' with `` The Runaways , '' Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis told CNN . He said Fowley 's group of `` the teenage girls being dangled out there as jailbait turned out to be really inspiring . What started out as a joke , became really serious . '' Jett and her post-Runaways group , the Blackhearts , are being inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year . Remembrances started pouring in on Twitter . Joan Jett tweeted `` Kim was a friend , he taught me so much . I am very sad . '' Heavy metal singer Sebastian Bach tweeted `` RIP my friend Kim Fowley the King of the Night Time World , a true Rock and Roll character . '' Ariel Pink , a singer-songwriter , tweeted `` rip Kim Fowley . No words . Prayers go out to his wife , kara . His music , life , and spirit will continue to be an inspiration . '' British actor and musician Michael Des Barres tweeted `` Kim Fowley -- magician , manipulator & lover of rock ' n roll . I learned & laughed & was in awe of him for over 40 years . '' In recent times , Billboard Magazine reported that Fowley was suffering from bladder cancer and `` in an interesting turn of events , former Runaways singer Cherie Curie cared for Fowley during his fight with cancer . '' Billboard reported `` their reconciliation came in 2008 following years of legal battles over royalties and harsh verbal tirades in the press . '' Fowley was known as a Los Angeles Sunset Strip character , often dressing in outrageous suits and pitching his latest project . `` He would do anything to seize the moment , he was kind of indestructible and you have to admire that , '' said DeCurtis . `` It 's necessary for a band to have charisma , and it 's necessary for a band to have a Kim Fowley in there someplace . The behind-the-scenes people are as much a part of rock ' n ' roll as the guys onstage ... Kim Fowley is a necessary evil '' he told the San Diego Reader in 2012 . People we 've lost in 2015 .
Kim Fowley is perhaps best know for his work with ` ` The Who '' Joan Jett left the band and went onto success with her solo ` ` The Blackhearts ''