Julee Cruise | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Cruise performing atLa Route du Rock in 2008 | |
| Born | Julee Ann Cruise (1956-12-01)December 1, 1956 Creston, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 9, 2022(2022-06-09) (aged 65) |
| Alma mater | Drake University |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1985–2018 |
| Spouse | |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Dream pop |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Labels |
|
Musical artist | |
Julee Ann Cruise (December 1, 1956 – June 9, 2022) was an American singer and actress, known for her collaborations with composerAngelo Badalamenti and film directorDavid Lynch in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She released four albums beginning with 1989'sFloating into the Night.
Cruise is best known for her 1989 single "Falling"; an instrumental version was used as the theme song for the television seriesTwin Peaks in which she appeared in a recurring role as aroadhouse singer. She reprised the role in the 1992 movieTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (which also featured her music),[1] and in the 2017 revival seriesTwin Peaks: The Return.[2] She was also featured in Lynch and Badalamenti'savant-garde 1990 theater productionIndustrial Symphony No. 1, which was filmed and released on home media.[3]
Other notable singles included "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart" (1990) and "If I Survive" (1999) by the bandHybrid, which featured her vocals. In the 1990s, she was a touring member ofthe B-52's, filling in forCindy Wilson.[1] Cruise was also a stage actress and appeared in theoff-Broadway musicalsReturn to the Forbidden Planet andRadiant Baby in 2004.[4] Her final album,My Secret Life, was released in 2011.
Born inCreston, Iowa, Julee Ann Cruise was the daughter of John Cruise, the town dentist, and Wilma Cruise, who was his office manager.[5][6] She studiedFrench horn atDrake University[7] and performed as a singer and actress inMinneapolis with theChildren's Theatre Company[8] (notably in the role ofJinjur in stage adaptations ofL. Frank Baum'sOz books).
She moved to New York and playedJanis Joplin in arevue calledBeehive, while also working withAngelo Badalamenti.[9]
In 1985, Badalamenti was composing the score forDavid Lynch'sBlue Velvet, as well as serving as the vocal coach for the film's star,Isabella Rossellini.[10] A key scene inBlue Velvet was intended to featureThis Mortal Coil's version of "Song to the Siren" byTim Buckley, with lead vocal byElizabeth Fraser. When it proved prohibitively expensive to obtain rights to use the song,[11] it was suggested that Badalamenti compose a pop song in the same style, with lyrics written by Lynch.[12] Because the song required a vocalist with a haunting, ethereal voice, Badalamenti recommended Cruise, who had sung in a New York theater workshop Badalamenti had produced. The result of their initial collaboration was "Mysteries of Love", which figures prominently inBlue Velvet's closing scenes and gained a cult following.[13]
Badalamenti and Lynch went on to write and produce additional songs for Cruise, most of which were featured in her debut album,Floating into the Night (1989). The album was released on September 12, 1989, byWarner Bros. Records, and charted onBillboard the following year.[14] It also provided musical material for Lynch'sIndustrial Symphony No. 1, in which Cruise performed while "floating" from a harness dozens of feet above a stage at theBrooklyn Academy of Music.[15]
The second, more significant project was the soundtrack to Lynch'sTwin Peaks, for which Badalamenti composed the original score. The song "Falling", which became the orchestral theme for the television series, caused a minor sensation, winning aGrammy at the33rd Annual Grammy Awards in 1991 for Best Pop Instrumental.[16] TheTwin Peakssoundtrack, featuring Cruise on the songs "Into the Night" and "The Nightingale" as well as on the vocal version of "Falling", eventually went gold (500,000+ copies) in the U.S., a rare feat for a television soundtrack. Cruise made a number of appearances onTwin Peaks as a singer at a local bar, and was prominently featured in both the show's landmark pilot episode and the episode where Laura Palmer's murderer is revealed, as well as in 1992'sTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", the second single fromFloating into the Night, was released in 1990 and was also featured in an episode ofTwin Peaks along with "The World Spins"; in the episode, several of the main female characters are shown lip-synching to "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart".[17]
Cruise reinterpreted and sang the theme song for an episode of theUSA Network showPsych.[18] The episode, "Dual Spires", was about a secluded town full of secrets and skeletons while they investigate the murder of a girl. It aired 20 years to the day after Laura Palmer's murderer was revealed.[18]
Cruise appeared onSaturday Night Live on May 12, 1990, filling in along withSpanic Boys[19] on short notice when scheduled performerSinéad O'Connor refused to appear on the same show as guest hostAndrew Dice Clay.[19][20][21] Cruise performed "Falling".[20]
The following year, Cruise recorded a Lynch- and Badalamenti-produced cover of theElvis Presley song "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" for the soundtrack ofWim Wenders'sUntil the End of the World.[22] Afterward, Cruise maintained a relatively low profile until her second album,The Voice of Love, was released in 1993.[14] An instrumental version of "She Would Die for Love" was used as the main theme for the movieTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.[23]
"She Would Die for Love" was also covered by alternative metal bandFantômas on theirThe Director's Cut album as "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me".[24]
Cruise's early collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch were closely related to Lynch's film work, which was reflected in the lyrics.[2] For example, "Into the Night" begins with the whispered words "Now it's dark", a line which was repeatedly spoken byFrank Booth,Dennis Hopper's character, inBlue Velvet. Lynch also photographed Cruise for the liner notes ofFloating Into the Night andThe Voice of Love, and created the sculptures featured on the covers of both albums.[25]
In 2017 she appeared in Part 17 of the newTwin Peaks season performing "The World Spins".[26][2]
Cruise released the EPThree Demos in 2018, containing the original demo versions of "Floating", "Falling", and "The World Spins".[27][28][29]
Cruise's long-delayed third album,The Art of Being a Girl, was released in 2002.[30] This was the first of her albums for which Badalamenti and Lynch did not produce or write any of the music. Instead, the music and lyrics for each of the songs were written by Cruise herself (with the exception of an updated version of the single "Falling"), and produced byRick Strom andMocean Worker.
In 2011, Cruise released her fourth album,My Secret Life.[31] The album was a collaboration with DJ Dmitry (formerly ofDeee-Lite) and contained a cover ofDonovan's "Season of the Witch" and a cover (technically) ofHybrid's "Fatal Beating" called "A Fatal Beating".[32]
Cruise also acted and sang in theoff-Broadway cast ofReturn to the Forbidden Planet, a spoof ofWilliam Shakespeare'sThe Tempest,[33][34] and toured withThe B-52's asCindy Wilson's touring stand-in on and off from 1992 to 1999.[31] She also performed regularly withBobby McFerrin's improvisational vocal group Voicestra/CircleSong.[31]
She appeared asAndy Warhol (among other characters, includingSusan Sontag) in the 2004Keith Haring bio-musicalRadiant Baby atThe Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, directed byGeorge C. Wolfe.[35]
Cruise lent her vocals to works by a miscellaneous list of collaborators, mostly inelectronic music.[31][2] She collaborated withMoby on his song "Drown Disco" which remains unreleased.[36]
She provided vocals and lyrics to several of the songs onWide Angle (1999), the debut album byWelshelectronic music groupHybrid, notably thenu skool breaks track "If I Survive".[37] In 1999, she performed on two songs onDon't Panic! by DJ Silver, "Sweet Dreams" and "I'm Your Girl".[37]
She appeared on the albums1-900-Get-Khan (1999) andNo Comprendo (2001) by dance artist Khan (Can Oral), and performed live and toured numerous times with him. The lyrics for many of these songs, such as "Body Dump", reflect Cruise's own interest intrue crime. Their most successful collaboration, the classic "Say Good-bye", was a hit in Europe and elsewhere.[37]
She was featured in two songs on Supa DJ Dmitry's (formerly ofDeee-Lite) albumScream of Consciousness (2000): "Don't Talk Me Down" (originally issued on TVT 7311-0 12") and a cover ofDavid Bowie's "Space Oddity".[37]
She appeared on a number of tracks on both the 2003 albumDreams Top Rock and the 2007 albumMonstrous Surplus by Germanpost-rock act Pluramon, a pseudonym of the musicianMarcus Schmickler.[38] Cruise appeared as a guest vocalist onSarcast While, the 2006 full-lengthalbum from the New Yorkband,Time of Orchids, released onTzadik Records. Her vocals appeared on five tracks onKenneth Bager's 2006 albumFragments from a Space Cadet.[37][39]
Cruise provided the vocals forDelerium's "Magic" song (on theChimera album).[37] She also provided vocals alongsidePharrell Williams onHandsome Boy Modeling School's song "Class System", produced byPrince Paul.[31] Additionally, she contributed vocals on Ror-Shak's 2007 albumDeep, on the song "Fate or Faith".[37]
Cruise was photographed in London by the fashion photographer Matt Colombo in an editorial that appeared in issue No. 49 ofZoo Magazine in 2015.[40]
Cruise recorded several memorable[according to whom?] covers over the years, including SirCliff Richard's "Wired for Sound" withB(if)tek,R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" withEric Kupper,Eurythmics's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" with DJ Silver,Elvis Presley's "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears", andDavid Bowie's "Space Oddity" with Supa DJ Dmitry.[41]
In 1991, Cruise contributed the song "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" to the "Until the End of the World" soundtrack.
In 1996, Cruise with the Flow appeared on theScream soundtrack with the song "Artificial World (Interdimensional Mix)".[42][36]
In 2001, Cruise contributed two exclusive tracks to theAn American Nightmare (which starsDavid Hess) soundtrack CD maxi-single, "In Your World of Blue" and "Never let you go".[37][43]
In 2003,Depeche Mode songwriterMartin Gore included a cover version of Cruise's song "In My Other World" (from her 1993 albumThe Voice of Love) onCounterfeit², the second in his series of cover albums dedicated to his own musical influences and atmospheric inspirations.[37] That same year, Cruise's song "The World Spins" was featured in an extended ballet sequence inRobert Altman'sThe Company.[44]
A modified sample of Cruise's song "I Float Alone" was used as the backing track in theDean Blunt song "The Narcissist".
Cruise's song "Floating" was featured in TV advertisements and trailers for the showThe Riches, which debuted onFX in March 2007.[45] The next year her music was used inCSI: Miami[46] and in episode 12 of season 5 ofPsych, "Dual Spires", she sang a rendition ofPsych's theme song. The episode was aspoof ofTwin Peaks.[18]
In 2012, her song "The World Spins" was used in an episode of the TV showHouse.[46]
Cruise married Edward Grinnan, an author and editor, in 1988.[5][31][47] They lived inManhattan and in theBerkshires.[5]
On March 28, 2018, Cruise announced on herFacebook page that she hadsystemic lupus, which caused her considerable pain and affected her ability to walk and stand.[48][49] She also had depression.[5] Reflecting on death in a 2018 interview withPitchfork, Cruise said, "But I'm not gonna get buried. I'm going to have my ashes mixed in with my dogs'. They're gonna spread my ashes across Arizona, and Arizona is going to turn blue. It's not gonna be ared state anymore".[50]
Cruise died inPittsfield, Massachusetts, on June 9, 2022, aged 65; her death was asuicide.[5] Her husband, Edward Grinnan, said that she "left this realm on her own terms. No regrets. She is at peace ... I played her 'Roam' during her transition. Now she will roam forever. Rest in Peace, my love".[13][51]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [52] | AUS [53] | CAN [54] | FIN [55] | NZ [56] | SWE [57] | UK | |||
| Floating into the Night |
| 74 | 21 | 27 | 30 | 11 | 36 | —[A] | |
| The Voice of Love |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| The Art of Being a Girl |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| My Secret Life |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCO [60] | UK | ||
| Fall Float Love: Works 1989–1993 |
| 63 | — [B] |
| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| Three Demos |
|
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Alt [66] | AUS [67] | FIN [68] | IRE [69] | NZ [70] | SWE [71] | UK [72] | ||||
| 1990 | "Falling" | 11 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 33 | 2 | 7 | Floating into the Night | |
| 1991 | "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart" | — | 107 | — | 18 | — | — | 66 | ||
| "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Until the End of the World: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||
| 1992 | "Questions in a World of Blue"(promo only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Voice of Love | |
| 1993 | "Movin' In on You"(promo only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999 | "If I Survive"(byHybrid) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | Wide Angle | |
