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Rebekah Del Rio, ‘Mulholland Drive' Singer of ‘Llorando,' Dead at 57
Rebekah Del Rio, the singer who delivered a powerful, Spanish-language rendition of a Roy Orbison classic in a pivotal scene in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, has died at the age of 57.
The Los Angeles Coroner's Office confirmed Del Rio's death to Variety, noting she died June 23 at her home in Los Angeles. A cause of death was not provided.
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The Chula Vista, California-born Del Rio first recorded 'Llorando,' a Spanish-language version of Orbison's 'Crying,' in 1994. The track netted the singer a record contract in Nashville, where she recorded her debut album, 1994's Nobody's Angel.
A few years later, Hollywood agent Brian Loucks, who had both Del Rio and Lynch as clients, introduced the two at the director's recording studio, where she performed 'Llorando' for Lynch. The performance inspired the now-iconic Club Silencio scene in 2001's Mulholland Drive:
The scene not only serves as the turning point in Lynch's cult classic, but was also among the first scenes he shot when he decided to convert Mulholland Drive from a rejected ABC pilot episode into a full-length feature film.
Lynch then cast Del Rio herself to appear as the Club Silencio singer, delivering 'many takes' of her 'Llorando.'
'Because I am a natural-born singer, and I don't know how to lip-sync, I sang along for every take of that scene,' Del Rio told Indie Wire in 2022.
'I've seen lip-syncing in a lot of films and television and have noticed the vibrato in their throats is not moving. It's pretty apparent that they're not really singing. For me, it takes away from the experience. I didn't want anyone to think that I was lip-syncing. Though it's ironic because, as you point out, the scene is set up with an illusion in mind, and I faint in the middle of the song, yet the recording still goes on. No hay banda. It's all an illusion.'
She continued, '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. 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.'
Lynch and Del Rio would collaborate one more time, with the singer (as herself) performing alongside Moby in one of the roadhouse music scenes in Twin Peaks: The Return; per Del Rio's own suggestion, she performed 'No Stars,' a song Lynch himself wrote.
Del Rio also appeared on the big screen in the 2006 film Southland Tales to perform 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' while her vocals were heard on the soundtracks for films like Sin City and Man on Fire.
According to Variety, Del Rio performed 'Llorando' live just weeks before her death at a Mulholland Drive screening at a Philosophical Research Society charity event in Los Angeles.
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