Not Fade Away Fondly remembered this month…
JULEE CRUISE
Ethereal singer (1956-2022)
COMPOSER Angelo Badalamenti faced a dilemma while creating the score for David Lynch’s Blue Velvet in 1986. Unable to secure the rights to This Mortal Coil’s cover of “Song To The Siren”, he and Lynch opted to write something similarly atmospheric instead. Enter singer Julee Cruise, whose otherworldly tones and phrasing were a perfect fit for the brooding textures of “Mysteries Of Love”. It was emblematic of Cruise’s subsequent career, beginning with 1989 debut Floating Into The Night, written for her by Lynch and Badalamenti. “I must have taken it from listening to what my mom and dad loved: low, low, bluesy-type music,” Cruise told the LA Times in 2017, referring to her signature sound. “But I sing like a classical French horn player.”
An instrumental version of “Falling” served as theme song of Lynch’s 1990 TV series, , while Cruise landed a major global hit and 2017’s long-awaited sequel, . She also performed in the 1990 Brooklyn stage production , co-created by Lynch and Badalamenti, whom she’d first met while playing Janis Joplin in New York theatreland.
