Rebekah Del Rio, Mournful Singer of ‘Mulholland Drive' Fame, Dies at 57

New York Times

11-07-2025

Rebekah Del Rio, the virtuosic singer best known for her forlorn Spanish-language rendition of Roy Orbison's 'Crying' in David Lynch's 2001 film 'Mulholland Drive,' died on June 23 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 57.
Her death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner, who said the cause was under investigation. Ms. Del Rio disclosed in 2018 that a malignant tumor in her brain had been surgically removed. In her final months, she told friends that the cancer had returned.
In a career marked by misfortune and tragedy, Ms. Del Rio, a self-taught vocalist, never made it beyond the music industry's revolving door. But her transcendent vibrato found a home in a surreal corner of Hollywood occupied by Mr. Lynch.
One day in the mid-1990s, Ms. Del Rio, a young country singer, arrived at Mr. Lynch's Los Angeles home for an introductory meeting arranged by their mutual agent, Brian Loucks. The instructions Mr. Loucks gave her were simple: Show up on time, look cute and be ready to perform 'Llorando,' her a cappella version of Mr. Orbison's 'Crying.'
Dressed head to toe in light blue, she sang until Mr. Lynch cut her off halfway through. He ushered her into his home recording studio, where she recorded the song in a single take.
'Ding dang, Rebekah Del Rio, that was aces!' she recalled him saying.
That recording would be heard in a pivotal scene in 'Mulholland Drive,' at a fictional nightclub called Club Silencio. Ms. Del Rio, who is introduced as 'La Llorona de Los Angeles,' emerges onstage from behind a velvet curtain wearing a dark red minidress, with smudged mascara and a crystalline teardrop under her right eye.
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