Judee Sill
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Judith Lynne Sill (October 7, 1944 – November 23, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter and composer. She was influenced by
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
, and wrote lyrics drawing on Christian themes of
rapture The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...
and redemption. Sill was the first artist signed to
David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, and media proprietor. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1 ...
's label
Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...
. She released her first album, '' Judee Sill'', in 1971, followed by '' Heart Food'' in 1973. Both albums were acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful. In 1974, Sill recorded demos for a third album, which went unfinished. Sill struggled with addiction through much of her life and died of a
drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. Retrieved on September 20, 2014.
in 1979. She did not find commercial success, and at the time of her death, no obituary was published; however, several artists have since cited her as an influence. Her found studio tape, demos and other rarities were released on the 2005 collection ''
Dreams Come True Dreams Come True or Dream Come True may refer to: Organizations * Dreams Come True (British charity) * Dreams Come True (American non-profit) Film and television * ''Dreams Come True'' (film), a 1936 British musical film * " "Dreams Come True" ...
''.


Early life

Judith Lynne Sill was born in
Studio City, Los Angeles Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in ...
, on October 7, 1944, and spent her early childhood in
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
. Her father, Milford "Bud" Sill, an importer of exotic animals for use in films, owned a bar in Oakland, where Sill learned to play the piano. When Milford died of pneumonia in 1952, Judee's mother, Oneta, moved with her and her older brother Dennis to Los Angeles, where Oneta met and married the ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
'' animator
Kenneth Muse Kenneth Muse (July 26, 1910 – July 26, 1987) was an American animator, best known for his work on the ''Tom and Jerry'' series at MGM Cartoons. Biography Muse worked briefly at Walt Disney Productions, where he was Preston Blair's assistant ...
. In a 1972 ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' interview, Sill described her home life after her mother's remarriage as unhappy and frequently violent due to physical fights with her parents. She transferred from
Birmingham High School Birmingham Community Charter High School (formerly Birmingham High School) is a charter high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was founded in 1953 ...
in Van Nuys to a private school, where she met other rebellious teenagers. Either during high school or after her graduation (depending on the source), Sill and a man she had met committed a series of armed robberies of businesses such as liquor stores and gas stations. They were arrested and she spent nine months in
reform school A reform school was a Prison, penal institution, generally for teenagers, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatory, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward f ...
, where she was a church organist and "learned a lot of good music", including
gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...
. After being released, Sill briefly attended San Fernando Valley Junior College as an art major. She also played piano in the school orchestra and worked in a piano bar. In 1964, her mother died, and she left college and moved out of her stepfather's home. She started taking
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...
and other drugs, moved in with an LSD dealer and joined a jazz trio. In April 1966, Sill married the pianist Robert Maurice "Bob" Harris. The couple lived in Las Vegas for a time, and both developed
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
addictions within months. When Sill moved back to California, she resorted to crime to support her addiction, including robbery, sex work, forgery and fraud. A string of narcotics and forgery offenses sent her to jail, and she learned that her brother Dennis had suddenly died of a liver infection. When she was released, she immediately set to work as a song composer.


Career

Sill encountered
Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...
and
David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...
and toured with them for a time as their
opening act An opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, supporting act or opener, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform ...
. After some initial interest from
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
,
David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, and media proprietor. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1 ...
offered her a contract with his new
Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...
label. She sold her song "Lady-O" to
the Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...
, and was featured on the cover of ''Rolling Stone''. Harris worked on her first album and was involved with the Turtles. Graham Nash produced her first album's first single, " Jesus Was a Cross Maker", released to radio on October 1, 1971. The album '' Judee Sill'' was released on September 15, 1971. It featured Sill's voice in multiple overdubs, often in a four-part
chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...
or
fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
. She worked with the engineer
Henry Lewy Henry Lewy (May 31, 1926 – April 8, 2006),Arizona Obituary Archive: Henry Lewy< ...
, noted for his work with
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...
throughout the 1970s. She opened for Jimmy Webb during two stints at the Troubadour to promote the just-released album, and though well-received in her live performances the album was not a commercial success. In January and February 1973, she was the support act on a tour of the UK by Roy Harper. Sill took over the orchestration and arrangements on her second album, '' Heart Food'', which included "The Donor". ''Heart Food'' was released in March 1973 and was critically acclaimed, but sold poorly, leading to the end of her association with Geffen and Asylum Records. Sill's friends said she lacked the resilience to cope with poor sales and bad reviews, and that she was dropped after she refused to perform as an opening act, a task she disliked. Sill and Geffen's personal relationship also deteriorated, with Judee allegedly camping out on Geffen's front lawn to protest his lack of support for ''Heart Food''. Their relationship came to an end after Sill, who was openly
bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
, allegedly referred to the then-publicly
closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...
Geffen using a homophobic epithet; whether this occurred onstage, or on the radio, and what exactly was said is disputed. Sill continued to write songs, and in 1974, began to record material for a third album at the studio of
Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...
."Overlooked No More: Judee Sill, Singer Whose Life Was Cut Short,"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', January 23, 2020.
By this time, Sill was once again suffering from drug abuse and other health problems, and her music was not regarded as marketable. She also was beginning to lose interest in music and focus on other pursuits, including
theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...
and animals. In the mid-1970s, she worked for a time as a cartoonist with a Los Angeles animation studio. Her 1974 recordings were never finished. Twenty-six years after Sill's 1979 death, the unfinished songs were mixed by Jim O'Rourke and released, along with a collection of rarities and home demos, as the album ''
Dreams Come True Dreams Come True or Dream Come True may refer to: Organizations * Dreams Come True (British charity) * Dreams Come True (American non-profit) Film and television * ''Dreams Come True'' (film), a 1936 British musical film * " "Dreams Come True" ...
'' on the Water label.


Personal life and death

Sill's personal life was turbulent, and she was affected by the early deaths of her father, mother and brother. Sill said she had been married twice, saying in interviews that she was briefly married either during or just after high school to a classmate, that her parents had the marriage annulled, and that he later died in a rafting accident. A friend wrote that she claimed to have married her robbery partner as a teenager. Sill's second marriage was to Robert Maurice "Bob" Harris on April 27, 1966, in Clark County, Nevada. They divorced in 1972. She married Samir Ben Taieb Kamoun, a Tunisian actor, mime, and
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
impersonator, on January 24, 1979, in Clark County, Nevada. Sill was openly
bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
. Her romance with the singer-songwriter
JD Souther John David Souther (November 2, 1945 – September 17, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was "a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters". Souther wrote and ...
, along with the novel '' The Last Temptation of Christ'', inspired her song "Jesus Was a Cross Maker". Souther later wrote the song "Something in the Dark" about her. She had a long-term relationship with the poet David Omer Bearden, who contributed lyrics to ''Heart Food'' and toured and performed with her; Sill dedicated ''Heart Food'' to him. As Asylum's first published artist, Sill also had a close friendship with David Geffen, and wrote "David Geffen, I love you" in the sleeve for her first album. Their relationship soured after comments she made in frustration about not receiving enough promotion for her second UK tour. After a series of car accidents and a failed back surgery, Sill struggled with drug addiction and dropped out of the music scene. She died of a drug overdose, or "acute cocaine and codeine intoxication", on November 23, 1979, at her apartment on Morrison Street in
North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...
. The Los Angeles coroner ruled her death a suicide, taking into account a note found near her body, but some who knew her have contended that the note, which reportedly contained "a meditation on rapture, the hereafter, and the innate mystery of life", was not a suicide note but rather a diary entry or song concept. Her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean after a ceremony organized by a few close friends at the
Self-Realization Fellowship Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide religious organization founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda, the Indian guru who authored '' Autobiography of a Yogi''. Before moving to the United States, Yogananda began his spiritual wo ...
in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. By the time of Sill's death, she had become so obscure that no obituary was published, and for many years, a number of her friends were unaware she had died. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' belatedly published an obituary of Sill in 2020, as part of their "Overlooked No More" series of notable historic people whose deaths had gone unreported by the ''Times''.


Musical style

Sill was classically trained. She combined an appreciation of classical composers such as Bach with seventies California music, a style she described as "country-cult-baroque". The critic Barney Hosykns wrote that her songs "suggest a hippie update of the cosmic epiphanies of
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
or the metaphysical ecstasies of
Henry Vaughan Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 – 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author and translator writing in English, and a medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in ''Silex Scintillans'' in 1650, with a second part in 1655.''Oxfo ...
". Sill believed that the purpose of music was to glorify God. Though her music is not
Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...
, it often references Christian beliefs and uses Christ as "a symbol of the elusive, yearned-for lover". She was included in ''The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music''; her faith was debatable, but she made frequent use of Christian symbolism in her lyrics, combined with a "lack of sensuality" and the "denial of the physical". ''The Washington Post'' described her music as "intensely devotional... she wrote her own sort of hymns — guileless, urgent, naked, absolutely personal".


Influence and legacy

Although Sill's music was not commercially successful, a number of later songwriters have been fans of her work, including
Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer best known for co-founding the band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writing a ...
,
Liz Phair Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to sta ...
,
Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer and songwriter. His most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". All t ...
,
Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1997 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early life Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin in Vermillion, South Dakota, and ...
,
Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
,
Robin Pecknold Robin Noel Pecknold (born March 30, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter, who serves as the principal songwriter and vocalist for indie folk band Fleet Foxes, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. He is known for his distinct baritenor ...
, Daniel Rossen, Bill Callahan and Terra Spencer.
Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Brinsley Schwarz Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lo ...
song "
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is a 1974 song written by English singer/songwriter Nick Lowe. Initially released by Lowe with his band Brinsley Schwarz on their 1974 album ''The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz'', ...
". In 2004, the British music critic
Barney Hoskyns Barney Hoskyns (born 5 May 1959) is a British music critic and editorial director of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages. Biography Hoskyns graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class degree in English. He began ...
wrote that had Sill been "as male and pretty" as
Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...
, another songwriter who did not find success while he was alive, her music would now be as popular. Hoskyns wrote that songs such as "The Pearl", "The Phoenix" and "Soldier of the Heart" were "as beautiful as Drake's but far more schooled and complex". In 2016, the supergroup case/lang/veirs released an eponymous album with a song about Sill titled "Song for Judee". Written by
Laura Veirs Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk and alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang o ...
, the song details the hardships of Sill's life and mentions Sill's song "The Kiss" from the album '' Heart Food''.


Posthumous releases

Terry Hounsome's 1981 book ''New Rock Record'' lists a Sill album titled ''Tulips From Amsterdam''. Unsure of the information's source, Hounsome later removed the listing from his database. Sill appears on Tommy Peltier's ''Chariot of Astral Light (featuring Judee Sill)'', which was recorded in the 1970s but not released until 2005 on the Black Beauty label. She contributed guitar, organ and backing vocals to six tracks on the album and is pictured with Peltier on the cover. Also in 2005, Sill's unfinished recordings, mixed by Jim O'Rourke, were released along with other rarities and unreleased demos as ''Dreams Come True,'' a two-CD set on Water Records. Sill's two original albums, ''Judee Sill'' and ''Heart Food'', were released that year as individual CDs, each with bonus tracks, on the
Rhino Handmade Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...
label. In 2006, Rhino released the compilation ''Abracadabra: The Asylum Years''. ''The Guardian'' gave it five out of five, and wrote that "in death
ill ILL, or Ill, or ill may refer to: Places * Ill (France), a river in Alsace, France, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Vorarlberg), a river in Vorarlberg, Austria, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Saarland), a river of Saarland, Germany, tributary o ...
is slowly finding the audience she always craved". In 2007, an album of Sill's live performances performed for the BBC was released as ''Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972–1973''. In 2017 the independent record label Intervention Records released 180-gram double 45rpm LP and SACD reissues of Sill's
self-titled An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
album and ''Heart Food''. In 2022, the documentary film ''Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill'', by Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom was completed. It was released in 2024. Nine years in the making, it coalesces past reporting on Sill along with including newly unearthed interviews and personal journals.


Discography

Studio albums * '' Judee Sill'' (1971) * '' Heart Food'' (1973) Others * ''
Dreams Come True Dreams Come True or Dream Come True may refer to: Organizations * Dreams Come True (British charity) * Dreams Come True (American non-profit) Film and television * ''Dreams Come True'' (film), a 1936 British musical film * " "Dreams Come True" ...
'' (2005) * '' Abracadabra: The Asylum Years'' (2006) * '' Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972–1973'' (2007) * '' Songs of Rapture and Redemption: Rarities & Live'' (2018)


References


External links


Judee Sill BiographyUnreleased recordings"Judee Sill's Posthumous 'Dreams'"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sill, Judee 1944 births 1979 deaths American acoustic guitarists American folk guitarists American women singer-songwriters American women pianists Bisexual singers Bisexual songwriters Bisexual women musicians Cocaine-related deaths in California Drug-related deaths in California LGBTQ people from California American bisexual women American bisexual musicians American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters Singers from Oakland, California Singer-songwriters from California People from Studio City, Los Angeles Guitarists from California 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American pianists Birmingham High School alumni 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American LGBTQ people LGBTQ women singers