Very little is known about the singer-songwriter named Judee Sill. No obituaries were written when she died, alone in November, 1979 in an apartment in North Hollywood, of an overdose. She lived a life of constant torment: dope fiend, part-time trick and hold-up criminal, time behind bars. Unable to sell her records at a time when names like Joni Mitchell and Carole King dominated the zeitgeist of the "Laurel Canyon Sound," Sill had faded into almost complete obscurity upon her death at the age of 35. Yet she was, and remains, in a class by herself, perhaps the most gifted songwriter of her generation.
Watch above. It is extremely rare live footage (there are as far as I can tell just three videos of her online) of Sill performing her unforgettable track, "The Kiss." This is one of those fleeting things we don't get too often anymore: a perfect song. There are more that are just as good if not better. Many are imbued with an almost religious radiance. Sill in fact saw making music as a tool to revere God.
You watch her -- in her trance, dressed almost like a church choir instructor -- and it's hard to reconcile the imagery with the dark legends of her life. Read this Washington Post article by Tim Page for pretty much the only substantial piece of writing on Sill by a contemporary journalist so far. Only recently, Rhino Records re-released some of her original recordings for David Geffen's Asylum label.
* You don't come across lost gems like this by chance. I want to thank Dash for passing me a mixtape of some of her songs in late 2005. In today's flattening digital world, let's hope Sill's music can be more widely enjoyed on the Internet and elsewhere.
** ADD: Two other worthwhile pieces on Sill, in The Observer and on NPR.
