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Q Lazzarus

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Q Lazzarus
A portrait of Q
Background information
Birth nameDiana A. Luckey
Also known asQ
Born(1960-12-12)December 12, 1960
Neptune Township, New Jersey, U.S.
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 19, 2022(2022-07-19) (aged 61)[1]
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Instrument
  • Vocals
Years active1985–1995
Labels
SpouseRobert Lange

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", which became a cult classic after being prominently featured in a scene from Jonathan Demme'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.[3]

Early life

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Diane Luckey, who was of African American heritage, was born on December 12, 1960,[1][4] in Neptune Township, New Jersey, the youngest of seven children.[5] 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 and, inspired by a production of Bubbling Brown Sugar on Broadway, moved to New York City at age 18 to pursue a music career.[6]

Early career

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After moving to New York in the late 70s, Luckey soon started working as a backup singer and jingle writer at Sigma Sound Studios.[1][7] In the 1980s, Luckey worked as a taxi driver in New York City to make a living. During this time, she adopted the stage name Q Lazzarus and began making music with her band, Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection. The name 'Q' comes from Quiana, which means thank you, and 'Lazzarus' comes from the Bible, whom Jesus raised from the dead. The band consisted of Lazzarus, songwriter William Garvey, and backup singers 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.[8][9]

Lazzarus was repeatedly turned away by record companies, who insisted they could not market her because of her image. After picking up filmmaker Jonathan Demme 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, "What is this and who are you?" Her song "Candle Goes Away" was then included in Demme's 1986 film Something Wild. In 1987, Lazzarus and her good friend William Garvey recorded the song "Goodbye Horses" 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. It later became a cult hit 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.[10]

Time in London

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Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection in London, from left to right: Shane Atlas, Jon Bouillot, Q Lazzarus, & Mark Barrett

In 1988, Q Lazzarus moved to London with hopes of gaining recognition overseas, since her music career had struggled to take off in the United States. She formed an Aerosmith-style rock band and remained in London for five years. The band included Mark Barrett on guitar, Jon Bouillot on bass, and Shane Atlas on drums, with Bob Stamegna serving as their manager.[4][8]

However, London record labels were also reluctant to sign Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection, feeling that the group didn’t align with their image of a rock band. During this time, Q began a relationship with a promoter she met at the Hippodrome named Richard, who later became her manager. Richard’s drug use eventually influenced Q to start using as well. Despite these challenges, Q and the band continued to perform at numerous venues throughout London.[11]

Return to the U.S. and disappearance

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In the early 90s, Q received a call to appear in Jonathan Demme’s next film, Philadelphia (1993), where she performed a cover of the Talking Heads’ song Heaven.[12][13] She and Richard moved to Philadelphia, where she tried once again to restart her music career in the U.S., collaborating with her friend Danny Z. Despite her efforts, record labels remained uninterested. Eventually, Richard left Q and returned to London. Q then fell into a deep depression and began heavily using crack cocaine.[14]

By 1995, Q Lazzarus had vanished from the public eye.[15] She moved into a friend’s apartment in New York City but was later evicted. Now homeless and struggling with addiction, she turned to prostitution to support her drug habit. During this time, she met a man named Robert—who would later become her husband—and moved in with him. Shortly after, she discovered she was five and a half months pregnant. Following an arrest for selling drugs in order to use them, she was incarcerated at Rikers Island. Afterward, she entered a rehabilitation program and became sober, graduating from Daytop in 2001. She later began working as a driver operating coach buses.[16]

Later life

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In 2015, while working as a bus driver in Staten Island, Q filed a lawsuit against a Hasidic bus company for not hiring female bus drivers.[4] In August 2019, filmmaker Eva Aridjis met Lazzarus after getting picked up in her car service in New York City, and the two became friends and soon began working on a documentary about her life.[1]

During the making of the documentary she was planning to make a come back into the music industry, trying to get her old band back together. However the Covid-19 pandemic caused those plans to be put on hold.[17]

Personal life and death

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Luckey was married to Robert Lange, with whom she had two children, and resided in Staten Island. She had a passion for travel and exploration, which included working on a fishing boat in Alaska and taking an extended trip through South America. She enjoyed cooking and loved fashion and storytelling. Humor was known to be a defining part of her personality, and she was often described as expressive and engaging in social settings. Luckey was a devout Baptist and was known to be deeply committed to her family and friends.[18]

In 2022, Luckey broke her leg and contracted sepsis. She died on July 19, 2022.[19][20][21] In March 2025, Aridjis's documentary, Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus, was released in select movie theaters in the United States, with its soundtrack released by Sacred Bones Records a month prior.[22]

Band members

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Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection:

  • Q Lazzarus – vocals
  • Mark Barrett - guitar (UK)
  • Jon "Baby Bulle" Bouillot - bass (UK)
  • Shane Atlas - drums (UK)
  • Rick Duce - drums (UK)
  • Bill Garvey - songwriter (US)
  • Gloriana Galicia - backing vocals (US)
  • Janice Bernstein - backing vocals (US)
  • Dan "Danny Z" Agren - backing vocals/dancer/collaborator (US)

Discography

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Filmography

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Music video

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  • Goodbye Horses (1987)[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Blistein, Jon (August 18, 2022). "Q Lazzarus, Cult Favorite Behind 'Goodbye Horses' Who Disappeared for Decades, Dead at 61". Rolling Stone. The obituary misdated her date of birth as 1962. Luckey was born in 1960, Rolling Stone has confirmed.
  2. ^ "Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus (Music From The Motion Picture)". Sacred Bones Records. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
  3. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Darville, Jordan (August 18, 2022). "Q Lazzarus, elusive singer of 'Goodbye Horses,' has died". The Fader. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  5. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (August 18, 2022). "Q Lazzarus, N.J. singer Diane Luckey, known for 'Goodbye Horses' in 'Silence of the Lambs,' dead at 59". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved August 21, 2022. The singer, Neptune native born Diane Luckey, died July 19, according to a short obituary notice announcing funeral arrangements in the Asbury Park Press.... Luckey, the youngest of seven children, was an alumna of Neptune High School and grew up singing at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Asbury Park, according to a longer obituary shared by Neptune's Jackson Funeral Home.
  6. ^ Jackson Funeral Service (July 19, 2022). "Official Obituary of Diane Luckey". Jackson Funeral Service.
  7. ^ Jones-Gorman, Jessica (August 20, 2022). "Q Lazzarus, famed musician who was later a Staten Islander, dies at 60". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Gorton, Thomas; Graham-Dixon, Charlie (April 17, 2018). "What happened to Q, who sang 'Goodbye Horses'?". Dazed. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  9. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  10. ^ Coscarelli, Joe (April 26, 2017). "Jonathan Demme's Finest Musical Moments". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  11. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  12. ^ Cills, Hazel (August 4, 2015). "Something Wild: The Sounds of Jonathan Demme". Grantland. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Hellman, Peter (November 11, 2021). "Mysterious 'Goodbye Horses' Singer Q Lazzarus Breaks Her Silence 30 Years Later". StereoGum. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  14. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  15. ^ Jenke, Tyler (November 11, 2021). "12 of the most intriguing mysteries in music history". Tone Deaf. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  16. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  17. ^ Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus. 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  18. ^ Jackson Funeral Service (July 19, 2022). "Official Obituary of Diane Luckey". Jackson Funeral Service.
  19. ^ Chick, Stevie (February 17, 2024). "'It was like she was possessed': how Q Lazzarus made Silence of the Lambs' most bewitching song – and then vanished". The Guardian. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  20. ^ "Diane Luckey Obituary". Asbury Park Press. July 30, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  21. ^ Moreland, Quinn (August 18, 2022). "Q Lazzarus, Elusive 'Goodbye Horses' Musician, Dies at 61". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  22. ^ "First-Ever Q Lazzarus Album Announced Featuring Previously Unheard Music". Stereogum. December 12, 2024.
  23. ^ "Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus". Sacred Bones Records. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  24. ^ Goodbye Horses. 1987. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
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