Rebekah Del Rio, the singer-songwriter whose performance of a Spanish-language cover of Roy Orbison’s “Crying” made for an indelible scene in David Lynch‘s 2001 film Mulholland Drive, died June 23 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 57.
Her death was confirmed by her nephew Dan Coronado in a Facebook post. A cause of death has not been disclosed.
“We really were blessed to have a beautiful day with her 2 Sundays ago and I’m so grateful my kids will remember how special it was to hear her God-given talent,” Coronado wrote.
Born July 10, 1967 in Chula Vista, Calif., Del Rio began performing to critical acclaim in San Diego before moving to Los Angeles in 1989. Her recording of “Llorando,” the title given to her Orbison cover, was brought to Lynch’s attention by their mutual agent, and the director arranged a meeting where Del Rio performed the song for him.
An impressed Lynch wrote a scene for Del Rio in Mulholland Drive, a rejected TV pilot he was adapting into a feature film. The scene was set in the Club Silencio, and featured Del Rio singing “Llorando” a cappella. Enchanting the Club Silencio audience with a powerfully emotional performance, Del Rio’s character faints (or worse) and crumples to the stage floor as the song hits its crescendo. When the singing continues it’s revealed she had been lip-syncing.
The startling scene brought Del Rio to a national audience. She subsequently found work on soundtracks for Southland Tales, Sin City, Man on Fire and Streets of Legend.
Del Rio reunited with Lynch when the director wrote a scene in Twin Peaks: The Return for her and Moby in which the two performed in a roadhouse.
Del Rio was preceded in death by her son Phillip C. DeMars who died in 2009 at the age of 23. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
