Minneapolis rock star Laurie Lindeen dies at 62

Musician and writer Laurie Lindeen, a fixture of the Twin Cities music scene, died on July 1 due to a brain aneurysm. She was 62 years old.

Former Zuzu's Petals bandmate Coleen Elwood announced Lindeen's death on Facebook .

"My dear friend of 45 years, ZZP petal sister, musical collaborator, and funny AF old school pal, I am shocked, devastated, and at a loss for words to describe what she meant to me," Elwood wrote.

Lindeen, originally from Madison, Wisconsin, formed Zuzu's Petals — a reference to the petals in the pocket of Jimmy Stewart's character George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life — with Elwood and eventually Linda Pitmon, who had already played in area bands for years.

Their first studio album, When No One's Looking , was released on Twin/Tone Records in 1992. They quickly followed it with 1993's Music of Your Life before breaking up in 1994.

Despite their relatively short run, Zuzu's Petals had a big impact in the Twin Cities, earning a star on the wall outside First Avenue and playing with bands like L7, Babes in Toyland, the Lunachicks, and Tina & the B-side Movement.

Following the breakup of Zuzu's Petals, Lindeen released the solo EP, A Pregnant Pause , in 1998, and wrote a memoir, Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story in 2008.

A year before her memoir was released, Zuzu's Petals reunited at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul as part of Mary Lucia's Fakebook series.

She spent recent years teaching writing in academic settings as well as with community organizations like the Loft Literary Center. In addition to her memoir, Lindeen wrote essays, like one she penned for the New York Times about a road trip to take her son to college with her ex-husband, The Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg.

Lindeen also founded the music and storytelling series Morningside After Dark and, according to her personal site, was a "mean waitress" at Dinkeytown's Al's Breakfast long ago.

She was living on Martha's Vineyard at the time of her death.