Today, Judee Sill is revered as a folk music icon, yet she struggled to succeed commercially during her own era. In 2022, several film festivals screened a biographical documentary titled Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill. However, according to Variety, this project is receiving its official theatrical release later this month. It explores the singer’s life and career.
Judee Sill only released two albums during her lifetime. Interestingly, she was the first artist to get signed to Asylum, the famous record label co-created by David Geffen. Her songs featured unconventional structures infused with profound classical influences, which made her stand out among her contemporaries. Her music was known to fit the “‘70s Southern California vibe.” Moreover, the dark and melancholic themes that recurred throughout Sill’s discography got her a cult following.
According to the official trailer of Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, its synopsis reads, “An intimate portrait of a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter from 1970s Los Angeles. The documentary charts the life of Judee Sill from a troubled adolescence that included armed robbery and prison through her meteoric rise in the music world and tragic early death. In just over two years, Judee went from living in a car to a deal with Asylum Records and the cover of Rolling Stone.”
It further reads, “As told by Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, David Geffen, and JD Souther — along with Judee herself — the film explores Judee’s unique musical style and the inspiring recent rediscovery of her singular music by a new generation of musicians including Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek of Big Thief, Shawn Colvin and Weyes Blood.”
Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill will be released in several theaters across the US on April 12, 2024. On the same day, it will also be available to stream on Amazon & Apple TV.
When was Judee Sill born and what was her early life like?
Judee Sill was born on October 7, 1944, and spent much of her early life in Oakland, California. Her father was Milford “Bun” Sill. He owned a bar as well as a business that imported exotic animals for use in films.
Judee Sill learned to play the piano in her father’s bar. Unfortunately, Milford died of pneumonia when she was only eight years old. After her father’s demise, she, her elder brother Dennis, and her mother Oneta moved to Los Angeles. Eventually, Oneta married Kenneth Muse, the famous animator of Tom and Jerry. Reports indicate that her mother’s marriage to Muse was unpleasant. There were instances where Judee constantly got into physical bouts with both.
Initially, Judee went to a public high school. Later, she transferred to a private school, where she began her involvement in crime. She and her male accomplice had reportedly committed armed robberies in various businesses, such as gas stations and liquor stores. This eventually led to the duo’s arrest, and she spent several months in reform school.
Gradually, Judee came to listen to “good music” and briefly attended the San Fernando Valley Junior College. During this time, she played the piano in the school orchestra and made a livelihood working in a piano bar. However, after her mother’s demise in 1964, she quit college and moved out of Kenneth Muse’s house. Soon, she began experimenting with psychedelic drugs and eventually moved in with a drug dealer.
Judee Sill’s marriages
Judee Sill stated that she married twice in her lifetime. Her first marriage occurred either during or after high school, a decision strongly opposed by her family. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1982, she revealed that her first husband met his demise in a rafting accident. She stated, “My first husband was killed going down the Kern River Rapids on a rubber raft on LSD.”
In the same interview, she spoke of her second husband, Robert Maurice Harris, a pianist. The two got married in 1966. She said, “My second husband’s still going down the rapids. No. actually, he’s a great musician and a great piano player. His name’s Bob Harris.”
Following her marriage to Harris, the couple relocated to Las Vegas, where they fell into a crippling heroin addiction. Eventually, she returned to California, becoming involved in criminal activities, including prostitution, robbery, fraud, and forgery. These actions culminated in her arrest, during which she received news of her brother’s death from a liver infection.
Judee Sill’s heroin addiction and concept of evil
In the same Rolling Stone Magazine interview, the interviewer asked what the musician’s concept of evil was. Citing her heroin addiction, Sill responded that, for her, evil entailed bringing joy to someone through wrongful actions.
Judee Sill
, “Evil, I think, gets joy in doing negative stuff. Not just doing negative things because that’s mostly ignorance. But evil takes joy in it. ‘Heroin, for example, has a power all its own, and that’s how it can take people who might otherwise be great people, and turn everything around.”
In addition, Sill revealed that for three years, she spent $150 daily on drugs. She was rendered destitute and had to struggle every day. Sill said, “For three years I had a $150 a day habit, and that’s pretty hard to come up with when you’re living on the streets, I saw what I’d do for it; there was no limit. And I did it with gusto because I wanted to escape my torment and misery.”
She then suggested people to avoid heroin at all costs because its consequences were severe and almost irreversible — “But heroin, man, my advice is to avoid it at all costs. It can have eternal, astral consequences, too.”
Judee Sill Career and death
Judee Sill began working as a music composer right after her release from prison. Her album Judee Sill was released in 1971 and features one of her most popular songs, “Jesus Was a Cross Maker.” In the aforementioned interview, the singer revealed that this was her favorite song, but it was not about Jesus Christ.
Her second album, Heart Food, released in 1973, included songs such as “The Donor” and “The Kiss”. Although this album received praise from both fans and critics, it did not do well commercially.
Sill constantly battled her internal demons throughout her life. This eventually led to her demise on November 23, 1979. At the time of her death, she was 35 years old.
Throughout the years, numerous renowned artists have cited her as a profound influence on their music. Among them are Steven Wilson, Robin Pecknold, Daniel Rossen, Bill Callahan, Liz Phair, and many others.
