Diane Luckey (December 12, 1960 – July 19, 2022), known professionally as Q Lazzarus, was an American singer. She is best known for her 1988 song "

Goodbye Horses "Goodbye Horses" is a song recorded by American singer Q Lazzarus. It was written by Q Lazzarus's bandmate, William Garvey, and released in 1988, with an extended version released three years later. It is a synth-pop, dark wave, and new wave ...

", which became a

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

after being prominently featured in a scene from

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an ...

's 1991 film '' The Silence of the Lambs''. Several of her songs were featured in other films directed by Demme before she disappeared from the public eye in the mid-1990s.

Life and career

Diane Luckey, who was of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

heritage, was born on December 12, 1960, in

Neptune Township, New Jersey Neptune Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 28,061, an increase of 126 (+0.5%) from t ...

, the youngest of seven children. While attending the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Neptune as a child, she sang in the Mount Pisgah Youth Choir. She graduated from

Neptune High School Neptune High School is a comprehensive four-year community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Neptune Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Neptune ...

and, inspired by a production of ''

Bubbling Brown Sugar ''Bubbling Brown Sugar'' is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke El ...

'' on Broadway, moved to New York City at age 18 to pursue a music career. She soon started working as a backup singer and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

writer at

Sigma Sound Studios Sigma Sound Studios was an American independent recording studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1968 by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia. Located at 212 North 12th Street in Philadelphia, Sigma Sound is closely associated with Philade ...

. In the 1980s, while making music as part of her band Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection, Lazzarus was working as a taxi driver in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to make a living. The band consisted of Lazzarus, songwriter William Garvey, backup singer Gloriana Galicia and Janice Bernstein. According to Galicia, by 1985, Lazzarus was working in Chelsea as a live-in housekeeper and au pair for an English businessman named Swan, and the band would record vocal harmonies on cassette at Swan's house; Lazzarus also had a number of other day jobs at the time. Lazzarus was repeatedly turned away by record companies, who insisted they could not market her because of her image. After picking up filmmaker

in her taxi during a blizzard and asking him if he was in the music business, she played him her demo tape, to which he replied, "Oh, my God, what is this and who are you?" Her song "Candle Goes Away" was then included in Demme's 1986 film '' Something Wild''. In the late 1980s, she moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to form an

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

-style

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band and stayed there for five years. In 1987, Lazzarus and her good friend William Garvey recorded the song "

" in his East Village apartment. The following year, thanks to Q's fateful meeting with Demme, the song was included in Demme's film ''

Married to the Mob ''Married to the Mob'' is a 1988 American crime romantic comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. P ...

''. It later became a

cult hit A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

following its inclusion in a scene from Demme's 1991 film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' featuring the film's antagonist, serial killer

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

. She then appeared in Demme's next film, 1993's ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

'', in which she performed a cover of the

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

song "

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

". In 1996, Q Lazzarus disappeared from the public eye. In 2015, she was working as a bus driver in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, and filed a lawsuit against a

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

bus company for not hiring female bus drivers. In August 2019, filmmaker

Eva Aridjis Eva Aridjis Fuentes is a Mexican and American filmmaker. She attended the American School Foundation in Mexico City, Princeton University, and New York University. She has made many prize-winning short and feature-length films. Early life and ...

met Lazzarus after getting picked up in her car service in New York City, and the two soon began working on a documentary about her life. Q Lazzarus died on July 19, 2022 from

sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

after breaking her leg. In March 2025, Aridjis's documentary, '' Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus'', was released in movie theaters in the United States, and its soundtrack was released by

Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Spellling, Blanck Mass, Crystal S ...

a month prior.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Q Lazzarus 1960 births 2022 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers American taxi drivers Bus drivers Neptune High School alumni Musicians from Staten Island Singers from New Jersey Singers from New York City 21st-century African-American women Jingle writers