Rebekah Del Rio, the singer best known for her powerful performance of Llorando in David Lynch’s film Mulholland Drive, has died at the age of 57.
Her death was confirmed by the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office. No further details have been released at this time.
Del Rio’s unforgettable role in Mulholland Drive came in the film’s iconic Club Silencio scene, where her emotional singing moves the main characters, played by Naomi Watts and Laura Harring, to tears.
Although her character collapses at the end of the performance, it was revealed that she sang live during every take while filming. She once said, “I felt I had to produce that same feeling with the vibrato in my throat so the audience could see it.”
Mulholland Drive, released in 2001, became a cult classic and earned praise for its dreamlike storytelling.
Rebekah Del Rio’s haunting rendition of Llorando a Spanish language version of Roy Orbison’s Crying was central to the emotional power of the film.
Her performance left a lasting impression and is now considered one of the most iconic moments in Mulholland Drive.
Before her rise to fame, Del Rio had been working under a country record deal in Nashville. Director David Lynch first heard her sing through their mutual agent Brian Loucks in the 1990s.
Impressed by her voice, Lynch recorded her secretly during their first meeting, and that recording inspired him to add the Club Silencio sequence to Mulholland Drive.
Del Rio went on to contribute music to other films, including Southland Tales, Sin City, and Man on Fire. Her connection to Lynch remained strong over the years.
She appeared in Twin Peaks: The Return in one of the show’s roadhouse musical sequences and regularly performed with The Red Room Orchestra, which celebrates the music of Lynch’s work.
Her final public appearance was just two weeks before her passing, at a Mulholland Drive charity screening in Los Angeles, where she performed live one last time.
Born on 10 July 1967 in Chula Vista, California, Rebekah Del Rio began her career in San Diego before moving to Los Angeles. She had one son, Phillip C. DeMars, who sadly passed away in 2009 at the age of 23.
As tributes pour in, many remember her most for her unforgettable moment in Mulholland Drive, a performance that continues to move audiences more than two decades later.