Rebekah Del Rio, star of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, dies aged 57
Rebekah Del Rio has died aged 57. (Getty)
Rebekah Del Rio has died aged 57. (Getty)
Rebekah Del Rio, the singer-songwriter behind the powerful performance of “Llorando” in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, has died aged 57.
The singer’s death was confirmed through the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office, as reported by Variety. No further details about her death have been made available at the time of reporting.
The California-born performer gained prominence for her emotionally mind-bending performance of Llorando during the pivotal theatre scene in David Lynch’s 2001 existential thriller, Mulholland Drive.
Her vocals have been heard on an array of soundtracks, including on Sin City, Man on Fire, and Streets of Legend.
Born in Chula Vista, California in 1967, Del Rio moved to Los Angeles in 1989 after starting a career in singing at an early age.
She eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she signed on to Giant Records to record her first album, Nobody’s Angel, which included “Llorando”, a Spanish-language cover of Roy Orbison’s “Crying”.
It was there that she met Lynch, who asked Del Rio to perform the single for his TV pilot of Mulholland Drive. Later rejected by ABC, the pilot would later be reworked into a feature film.
Del Rio’s performance, where she sings the emotionally powerful song in the middle of a late-night show at the cavernous club as actors Naomi Watts and Laura Harring embrace, tearfully watching her performance, is a turning point where the film begins to delve into its surrealist, multiversal third act.
Speaking to IndieWire in 2022, Del Rio said that, while the scene depicts her as lip-syncing to a pre-recorded track, the singer performed the number during every take.
“I felt I had to produce that same feeling with the vibratio in my throat so the audience could see it,” she said. “I also wanted the beautiful girls in the balcony, [the film’s stars] Laura Harring and Naomi Watts, to experience it live. They were present while I was doing my scene, so I sang to them.”
Del Rio also made a cameo appearance in David Lynch’s 2017 TV series, Twin Peaks: The Return, performing No Stars alongside Moby at the tail-end of the show’s tenth episode.
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