Rebekah Del Rio has died aged 57.
The singer songwriter – who made a brief but memorable appearance in David Lynch’s iconic 2001 movie Mulholland Drive – passed away on Monday (June 23) at her home in Los Angeles.
Her nephew Dan Coronado confirmed the news on Facebook, as he wrote: ‘Just found out my Tia Becky passed away, and we literally just saw her on Father’s Day.
‘So grateful the kids got to hear her sing, and also that I didn’t listen to her and secretly recorded the moment.’
He paid tribute to her ‘God-given talent’ for music and thanked his late aunt for sharing her ‘gift’.
He added in his tearful post: ‘Her most famous song is titled Llorando which is named after Roy Orbison’s song Crying which I’m doing right now as I type this out.
‘Thank you for sharing your beautiful gift with the world Tia. We love you.’
Her Spanish version of Crying appeared in an iconic scene in Mulholland Drive.
She is singing live at Club Silencio, but her character’s voice can still be heard even after she faints and drops to the floor.
She previously revealed that despite the version in the film being a secret recording from her first meeting with Lynch, who died aged 78 earlier this year, she had sung along each take.
She told IndieWire: ‘There were many takes. And with every take, I sang along, because I felt I had to produce that same feeling with the vibrato in my throat so the audience could see it.
‘I also wanted the beautiful girls in the balcony, [the film’s stars] Laura Harring and Naomi Watts, to experience it live. They were present while I was doing my scene, so I sang to them.’
She again worked with Lynch in Showtime’s Twin Peaks: The Return revival series, performing her song No Stars which is based on a poem by the filmmaker.
Elsewhere, she has appeared on the soundtracks for the likes of Sin City, Streets of Legend and Man on Fire.
Her son Phillip DeMares died from cancer aged just 23 in 2009, and Del Rio previously opened up on how ‘grief’ has impacted her music.
She told The Guardian: ‘My voice lends itself to that sadness because I carry a lot of that grief inside.’
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