Singer Julee Cruise, whose haunting voice made her a favorite of filmmaker David Lynch, died at the age of 65.
According to The Guardian, her husband Edward Grinnan has confirmed the news on Facebook. “She left the area on her own terms. No regrets,” he wrote. “She is OK.” “I played [B-52’s song] ‘Roam’ during their transition. Now she will roam forever. Rest in peace, my love.,” said Grinnan.
Grinnan later told NPR that Cruise died of suicide after battling “lupus, depression, and alcohol and drug abuse”; In 2018, Cruise shared on her Facebook page that she was suffering from systemic lupus and was having difficulty walking and standing.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan, who starred in Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, wrote on Twitter: Deeply saddened by the passing of Julee Cruise today.” “Her angelic voice transported us all to another dimension. Now, she’s floating among the angels. Sending love to her family, friends, and fans today.” “David Lynch also paid tribute to” a great singer and a great human being. “
Born in Iowa in 1956, Cruise worked with Lynch on several occasions. Her most famous song was “Falling”, which was released as part of her 1989 debut album, floating into the Night. An instrumental version of the track, written by Angelo Badalamenti, was used as the theme for Lynch’s iconic 1990 TV series, Twin Peaks. She also appeared as a character in the 2001 spin-off film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Twin Peaks: The Return, the long-awaited third season of the show, which premiered in 2017.
Prior to the Twin Peaks, Lynch first used Cruise’s music for his 1986 film Blue Velvet, which prominently features her Badalamenti collaboration, “Mysteries of Love.” In 1990, she appeared as a character in Lynch’s avant-garde with singers Nicholas Cage and Laura Darren, as “The Dream self of the Heartbroken Woman” theater production, Industrial Symphony No. 1.
Falling singer Julee Cruise, dies by suicide at 65
Cruise also worked with other filmmakers. In 1991, she covered Elvis Presley’s “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” for the soundtrack of Wim Wanderers Until the End of the World. Her second album was released in 1993, named, “The Voice of Love”. Her third album, The Art of Being a Girl, was not released until 2002.
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In addition to her music, Cruise performed with other artists. She toured as Cindy Wilson’s stand-in for The B-52s from 1992 to 1999 and performed with Bobby McFerrin’s reformed vocal group Voicestra/CircleSong.
In 2004, Cruise provided vocals with Pharrell on the song “Class System” from the Handsome Boy Modeling School. Cruise’s last album was 2011’s My Secret Life, which was a collaboration with Deee-lite’s DJ Dmitry.
In 2018, Cruise released three recording cruise cuts, a collection of three recordings, three demos with Lynch and Badalamenti between the recording of the song “Mystery of Love” for Blue Velvet and her debut album. These included early versions of “Floating,” “The World Spins,” and “Falling.”
Badalamenti recalls how Lynch influenced the success of Floating Into the Night in a 2014 interview. “It had a distinctly different sound,” he said of Cruise music. “When it came out, the radio stations said they did not have a slot for it. Is it pop? Not really. Is it R&B? Certainly not. What is it? Even other avant-garde stations found it unusual, so it was difficult to broadcast. But when ‘Falling’ emerged as the main title theme of the Twin Peaks, it was a completely different story.
In the same interview, Cruise noted that she heard her influence in music, which has been with female singers for decades. “They sing like sexy baby girls,” she said. “They all have their own personalities.”
