Judee Sill

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Judee Sill


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Background = solo_singer
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Born = birth date|1944|10|07 in California
Died = birth date|1979|11|23
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Instrument = guitar, piano
Genre = Folk, baroque pop
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Label = Asylum
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Judee Sill (born Judith Lynn Sill, October 7, 1944 - November 23, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums before disappearing into obscurity and eventually dying of drug abuse in 1979. [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=4&subID=124]

Her eponymous "debut album" was released to major acclaim in late 1971 and was followed around eighteen months later by "Heart Food". She recorded demos for a third album in 1974 and they were released, along with other rarities, in a two-disc collection in 2005 under the title "Dreams Come True".

Sill was heavily influenced by Bach's metric forms and suites, while lyrically her work drew substantially on Christian themes of rapture and redemption.

Biography

Sill's father, an importer of exotic animals for use in films, and older brother both died in separate incidents when she was quite young. Her mother's subsequent marriage to Tom and Jerry animator Kenneth Muse in 1952 was marked by heavy drinking, and this, combined with her rebellious nature, drove Judee away from home and into a life of crime and drug use in her teens.

Having learned her signature gospel-inflected keyboard style during her incarceration in reform school for writing bad checks, Sill kicked her heroin addiction cold turkey in jail and decided to pursue songwriting. Now a talented pianist, organist and guitarist, Sill returned to the West Coast where she encountered Graham Nash and David Crosby (touring with them for a time as their opening act) and David Geffen who offered her a contract with his nascent label. Her first success was the sale of her song "Lady-O" to The Turtles.

Graham Nash produced the first single for her first album, "Jesus Was A Cross Maker," which was released to radio on October 1, 1971. The album "Judee Sill" soon followed in October 1971, released to immediate acclaim. Lushly orchestrated, the album featured Sill's voice in multiple overdubs, often in a four-part chorale or fugue. As well as Sill's acoustic-based arrangements, she and engineer Henry Lewy, known for his long working relationship with Joni Mitchell, created a sound incorporating elements of country, folk, and classical.

The album fit in well with the light rock/folk-rock underpinnings of what came to be known as the "Laurel Canyon sound" associated with other female singer/songwriters such as Carole King and Mitchell, who was also signed to Asylum and had an association with David Geffen. A tour as the opening act for Nash and David Crosby exposed her to a larger audience, but her record failed to make much of an impact, despite the somewhat heavy airplay of "Jesus Was A Cross Maker." A self-professed perfectionist, one song could often take her a year to write, and it wasn't until late 1972 that Sill returned to record and then release her second and last album, "Heart Food". It too received enthusiastic reviews upon its release in spring 1973, and found Sill incorporating more of a gospel and country flavour, but did poorly commercially. Sill took over the chores of both orchestrating and arranging "Heart Food", with the production relying more heavily on multilayered strings and lush expanse, a prime example being "The Donor," which features an extravagant choral arrangement based around the chanting of "Kyrie Eleison."

Career decline and death

Unable to draw a sizeable crowd yet unhappy to play as a support act, Sill saw her name and moderate fame both recede following the commercial failure of "Judee Sill" and "Heart Food", and she eventually disappeared from view entirely.

Rumors abound as to what happened next, although it is definitely known that she returned to her heroin addiction as well as becoming heavily involved with cocaine after a series of car accidents left her with severe back pain that required surgery. Because of her drug conviction from the 1960s, doctors were reluctant to administer morphine for Sill, driving her to return to obtaining illegal drugs. Graham Nash has said that he been told as early as 1974 that Sill had died of an overdose. That report proved to be incorrect, but considering how closely the two had worked only a few years earlier it does illustrate just how completely Sill had dropped out of sight by that time.

Following the car accidents and their resultant physical pain, Judee Sill struggled with drug addiction and dropped out of the music scene, finally dying of a drug overdose, or "acute cocaine and codeine intoxication," in November 1979 at her apartment on Morrison Street in North Hollywood.

Legacy

Long after her death, she has been lauded by many musicians, including Jim O'Rourke who mixed the posthumous collection of unreleased material, "Dreams Come True". Her two original albums have been reissued as a double CD with a number of live recordings and demos as bonus tracks.

American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon recorded "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" for his 1995 album, "Mutineer".

Ironically, "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" would be recorded in 1973, by Graham Nash's former band The Hollies (although Nash had no part in their recording). It's their version that appears in the opening sequence of Cameron Crowe's film Elizabethtown, although Crowe has stated that he loves Sill's original just as much.

Scottish Celtic-Soul singer Jackie Leven's 2006 album "Oh What A Blow That Phantom Dealt Me!" contains a song entitled "The Silver In Her Crucifix (Homage To Judee Sill)", which includes the lines: "and Judee Sill just stood there/with a gold key in her heart/and the silver in her crucifix/kept warring worlds apart/that's why I love Judee Sill.../and I know I always will."

In 1983, Chicago-based lesbian-feminist singer Ginni Clemmens released an album entitled Lopin' Along Thru the Cosmos (rereleased in 1992 on the Flying Fish label) which included cover versions of "Lady-O" and "Lopin' Along Thru the Cosmos." Clemmens enthusiastically introduced Judee Sill's music to the national "women's music" audience, though Sill didn't live to see it.

Laurel Canyon-influenced Seattle band Fleet Foxes covers Sill's "Crayon Angels" on their 2008 tour.

Another persistent question regards "Tulips From Amsterdam", which is listed as a third album for Judee Sill in many databases and books. There is no primary evidence that such an album ever existed. Those who knew and worked with her say that they had never heard of a third album by any name, but that if such an album did exist, they would have known about it. This bit of misinformation was widely spread by the All-Music Guide, but it predates their existence appearing in a book called "New Rock Record" by Terry Hounsome, published in 1981, and is still listed in a database he continues to compile and sell.

Discography

* "Judee Sill" (LP, Asylum, 1971)
* "Heart Food" (LP, Asylum, 1973)
* "Dreams Come True" (2CD, Water, 2005). Includes eight studio demos for a prospective third album, various home demos and a video clip of five songs live at USC in 1973.
* "Judee Sill" (CD, Rhino Handmade, 2005). Contains the original album plus original versions of two songs, seven live versions and a home demo. Edition of 5000 copies.
* "Heart Food" (CD, Rhino Handmade, 2005). Contains the original album plus an outtake and eight demo versions. Edition of 5000 copies.
* "" (2CD, Rhino, 2006). Combines "Judee Sill" and "Heart Food" with bonus tracks.
*"Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973" (CD, Troubadour, 2007). Contains solo live songs performed for the BBC, and an interview with Bob Harris.

External links

* [http://www.kneeling.co.uk/pages/jsill/js_remember.asp Biography]
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1369079,00.html "Observer" article]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901782.html "Washington Post" article by Tim Page]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=sill&GSfn=judee&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=15384119& Judee Sill memorial site on Findagrave.com]
* [http://www.webnoir.com/bob/music/ Judee Sill – Unreleased Concert Recordings (MP3 files)]
* [http://chalkhills.org/articles/Uncut0504.html UNCUT article on Sill]