Rebekah Del Rio, the American singer who memorably performed “Llorando” (a Spanish language version of Roy Orbison’s “Crying”) in David Lynch’s masterpiece “Mulholland Drive,” has died at the age of 57. According to the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office, Del Rio died June 23 at her home in L.A. A cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Born in 1967 in Chula Vista, California, she moved first to L.A. in 1989 and then to Nashville in 1994, where she signed to Irving Azoff’s label Giant Records. Over the years, she had also been signed to DreamWorks Nashville and indie label Baja Basement Records. Her work appeared on the soundtracks to films like “Sin City” and Tony Scott’s version of “Man on Fire.”
She also appeared in Richard Kelly’s gonzo cult favorite “Southland Tales,” where she provides vocals for a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a sequence that takes place late in the film. She then re-teamed with Lynch for “Twin Peaks: The Return,” his astounding follow-up to his hit television series “Twin Peaks.” On the new show, she performed a song “No Stars,” co-written by Lynch, on its 10th episode. Musician Moby joined her on guitar for a performance that took place at the Bang Bang Bar, also known as the Roadhouse, an iconic location in “Twin Peaks” mythology and a key part of “The Return.”
But it’s her performance in “Mulholland Drive,” which the New York Times recently named the second-greatest film of the past 25 years, that most will remember Del Rio for. It takes place in Club Silencio, which feels, depending on your mood and reading of Lynch’s work, as some kind of cosmic waystation, perhaps between the past and the present, or maybe the realms of the living and the dead. (In reality it’s the Tower Theatre, a real-life location in downtown L.A.)
In the balcony of Club Silencio are the characters played by Naomi Watts and Laura Harring, also representing two halves of a whole. As they watch, they start to cry – a reaction that it was hard not to replicate as an actual audience member, watching “Mulholland Drive.”
It’s a singularly powerful scene, the kind of thing that only Lynch could dream up, and it’s the power of Del Rio’s voice that makes it come alive. It could have been simply odd without her; with her, it’s an emotional powerhouse.
In 2022, Del Rio told Indiewire that she sang the song live for every take. “There were many takes. And with every take, I sang along, because I felt I had to produce that same feeling with the vibrato in my throat so the audience could see it. I also wanted the beautiful girls in the balcony, [the film’s stars] Laura Harring and Naomi Watts, to experience it live,” she explained. “They were present while I was doing my scene, so I sang to them. David uses live mics when he’s filming, by the way. He’s always listening.”
She told the outlet that she had pitched Lynch on using “No Stars” in “Twin Peaks: The Return,” saying: “When David started working on ‘The Return,’ I called him directly and told him, ‘Don’t you think our song, ‘No Stars,’ would be perfect for ‘Twin Peaks’? And he said, ‘Yes, I do Rebecky, I really do.’”
Earlier this year, Lynch passed away from complications associated with emphysema. The filmmaker was a longtime smoker.
