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The Ror is a Kshatriya community and numbers between 750,000 and 1,000,000.^[1] They hold nearly 270 villages in Haryana and 52 more in Western Uttar Pradesh and the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand.

In his work, A Glossary of the Tribes and castes of Punjab and North-West Frontier Provinces, H. A. Rose says that the Ror are fine, stalwart men. Quoting from the third volume, Rose says:^[2]

The real seat of the Ror is the great Dhak jungles of Thanesar. They hold 84 villages and Amin is the "Tika" or head village. They also hold 12 villages south of Kaithal and the gotra there is Turan. Again, there are 12 more villages of the Ror beyond the Ganges. The immediate place of origin of the Rors seems to be Badli in Jhajjar tehsil of Rohtak district and all of them unanimously claim to have come from there.

In the Archaeological Survey of India Report for the year 1871-72, A.C.L. Carlleyle says about the image of a Ror warrior found at the site of Kaga Ror or Kagarol:^[3]

The features of the face are fine and manly, of the handsomest Hindu type. The warrior has his right knee raised; on his right arm he presents a shield in defense and in the left hand he brandishes a straight sword of huge dimensions over his head. In a belt round his waist he wears a dagger with a cross-shaped hilt at his left side. The hair of the head is full but drawn back in straight lines on the head.

History[link]

Rama of Ayodhya had a descendant called Devaneek in the eighth generation after him and this Devaneek had three sons according to the Puranas.^[4] The three sons of Devaneek were called Ahinag (Aneeh), Roop and Ruru. Ruru is remembered by all Rors as their eponymous ancestor and the lineage from there on is well-preserved by their bards right up to King Dadror.

Ror capitals[link]

Ror clans historically ruled from Rori, the capital of Sind for a long time. Rori has been known by names such as Roruka and Rorik since antiquity. Buddhist Jataka stories talk about exchanges of gifts between King Rudrayan of Roruka and King Bimbisara of Magadh. Divyavadana, the Buddhist chronicle has said that Rori historically competed with Patliputra in terms of political influence.^[5] The scholar T.W. Rhys Davids has mentioned Roruka as one of the most important cities of India in the 7th century BC.^[6]

Roruka was founded and established for the first time by King Ruruk, who was the fifth Ikshvaku dynasty ruler in the lineage after Raja Harishchandra of Kashi.^[7] An idea about the age of the city can be had by exploring the time line of the Ikshvaku dynasty. King Ruruk happened 29 generations before Rama and should be dated to around 2500 BC using the most conservative estimates.^[8] If we believe the traditional Puranic time-line for the Indian civilization, King Ruruk may have lived around 5500 BC. Thus, it can be seen that Roruka in the historical Sindhu-Sauvira area is quite an ancient seat of civilization dating back to the third millennium BC certainly.^{[citation needed]}

Shortly after the reign of Rudrayan, in the times of his son Shikhandi, Roruka got wiped out in a major sand storm.^[9] This event is recorded in both Buddhist (Bhallatiya Jataka) and Jain (Story of Udayan and the town of Vitabhaya) annals. It was then that the legendary Dhaj, Ror Kumar built Rori Shankar^[10] (the current Rohri and Sukkur) in the year 450 BC.

The ancient city of Rori was also a major pilgrimage center where famous personalities like "Sant" Bhrithari, elder brother of the great King Vikramaditya, came to pay their respects to Shankar Bhagwan. After the Arab conquest of Sind, the invaders pulled down the ancient temple of Shiva but Rori still remains a major religious destination for the Sindhi people.^{[citation needed]}

Bardic version[link]

According to bards' chronicles and accounts, Rors had two more capitals in India. King Mukan Dev of the Rors, who originally ruled from Palanpur in Gujarat, later extended his rule in the north of the country and established a second capital close to present-day Delhi in Badli, Jhajjar. In terms of evidence we have from inscriptions, the bards are definitely referring to Rudradaman I and his 150 AD campaign against the Yaudheya Kshatriyas when they say that the Ror king came from Gujarat and established his rule in Haryana.^{[11][dead link]}

(L. 9.)^{[clarification needed]} ...he who, because from the womb he was distinguished by the possession of undisturbed consummate Royal Fortune, was resorted to by all castes and chosen their lord to protect them; who made, and is true to, the vow to the latest breath of his life to abstain Sindhu-Sauvira, Kukura, Aparanta, Nishada and other territories gained by his own valour, the towns, marts and rural parts of which are never troubled by robbers, snakes, wild beasts, diseases and the like, where all subjects are attached to him, (and) where through his might the objects of [religion], wealth and pleasure [are duly attained]; who by force destroyed the Yaudheyas who were loath to submit, rendered proud as they were by having manifested their' title of' heroes among all Kshatriyas; who obtained good report because he, in spite of having twice in fair fight completely defeated Satakarni, the lord of Dakshinapatha, on account of the nearness of their connection did not destroy him; who [obtained] victory ... who reinstates deposed kings; who by the right raising of his hand has earned the strong attachment of Dharma; who has attained wide fame by studying and remembering, by the knowledge and practice of, grammar, music, logic and other great sciences; who ... the management of horses, elephants and chariots, (the use of) sword and shield, pugilistic combat and other ... the acts of quickness and efficiency of opposing forces; who day by day is in the habit of bestowing presents and honours and eschewing disrespectful treatment; who is bounteous; whose treasury by the tribute, tolls and shares rightfully obtained overflows with an accumulation of gold, silver, diamonds, beryl stones and (other) precious things; who ... prose and verse, which are clear, agreeable, sweet, charming, beautiful, excelling by the proper use of words and adorned; whose beautiful frame owns the most excellent marks and signs, such as (auspicious) length, dimension and height, voice, gait, colour, vigour and strength; who himself has acquired the name of Mahakshatrapa; who has been wreathed with many garlands at the svayamvaras of kings' daughters; -he, the Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman, in order to ... cows and Brahmans for a thousand of years, and to increase his religious merit and fame, -without oppressing the inhabitants of the towns and country by taxes, forced labour and acts of affection -by (the expenditure of) a vast amount of money from his own treasury and in not too long a time made the dam three times as strong in breadth and length ... [on] all [banks] ... (and so) had (this lake) made (even) more beautiful to look at.

Golden Age[link]

The first few centuries of the Christian Era and a couple of centuries prior to that constitute the golden age of Ror history. Not only did Rors have ruling seats of power in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Sindh; during the times of Rai Dewaji in the 5th century AD, they consolidated their influence in the entire region from Afghanistan to Kanauj in India.^{[12][dubious – discuss]}

The fort at BhainsRor in Southern Rajasthan is supposed to have come up in the 2nd century BC and the Kagarol (Kaga Ror)^[13] ruins near present-day Agra have also pointed to a similar time-line for another branch of Rors who ruled from there. The coins found in the Agra circle by Sir Alexander Cunningham [3] seem to indicate a close relationship between the Ror rulers of the area and the rulers of Hastinapur and Indraprastha. A few coins found close to the site have been dated to the 3rd century CE by Cunningham as a result of the general style of the coins and the type of Sanskrit used.^[14]

Ror rulers of Sindh[link]

Following the foundation of Rori Shankar by Dhaj, Ror Kumar (Rai Diyach in Sindh), 41 kings followed him one after the other till Dadror. Listing them starting from 450 BC till 489 AD, the Ror Dynasty grew as follows:^[15]

• Dhaj, Ror Kumar
• Kunak
• Rurak
• Harak
• Devanik
• Ahinak
• Paripat
• Bal Shah
• Vijay Bhan
• Khangar
• Brihadrath
• Har Ansh
• Brihad-datt
• Ishman
• Sridhar
• Mohri
• Prasann Ket
• Amirvan
• Mahasen
• Brihad-dhaul
• Harikeert
• Som
• Mitravan
• Pushyapata
• Sudaav
• Bideerakh
• Nahakman
• Mangalmitra
• Surat
• Pushkar Ket
• Antar Ket
• Sutjaya
• Brihad-dhwaj
• Bahuk
• Kampjayi
• Kagnish
• Kapish
• Sumantra
• Ling-laav
• Manasjit
• Sunder Ket
• Dadror

The bards report that Dadror was poisoned by his head priest, Dewaji in 620 AD^[16] and he was followed by five Brahmin kings before the capture of Rori or Al Ror by the Arabs. On the other hand, written records like the Chachnama report that the Brahmin usurper was Chach and not Dewaji.^[17] Considering that the bards may have made a mistake in their orally transmitted reports from generation to generation, we can place a greater faith on the date of 620 AD and that corresponds well with Chach, the usurper's lifetime. That would mean that the dynasty reported as the Rai dynasty was a continuation of Ror rule in Sindh and Rai Sahasi II was not killed by Chach jumping onto his horse's back in an open field (as in Chachnama) but in cold blood by mixing poison in his food.

Wink reports on the possibility of the corruption of the Sanskrit names and renders them as related in parenthesis in the following chronology of the Ror Rai rulers (489 - 632 AD) of Rori or Alor in Sindh:^[18]

• Rai Dewaji (Devaditya)

He was a powerful chief who forged alliances and extended his rule east of Makran and west of Kashmir and Kannauj, south to the port of Surat and north to Kandahar^[19]

• Rai Sahiras (Shri Harsha)
• Rai Sahasi (Sinhasena)
• Rai Sahiras II

Died battling the King of Nimroz^[20]

• Rai Sahasi II (Brother of Rana Maharath of Chittor^[21])

Loss of Sindh[link]

Rors continued to hold several big forts in Sindh till the Arab invasion of AD 711 and some of the longest battles between the Arabs and Indians were fought at the three forts of Rori (Raor), BahRor^[22] and AghRor. Chachnama mentions the occurrence of a "Jauhar" during the siege of the BahRor fort. All men of the military class, Ror Thakurs and their relatives were put to death after the Arab victories. Elsewhere in Sindh, a noble by the name of Dahir Ror is said to have engaged Bin Qasim and his forces in an intense battle before the final engagement between the Arab forces and Raja Dahar's army.^[23] After the occupation of Sind by the Arabs, the surviving Ror warriors came away and some of them settled in Ahar, from where the Aharya Rana dynasty of Mewar derived their name.^{[citation needed]}

8th century - 12th century[link]

Excavations at a small village about 18 miles from Agra led to the discovery of a Ror seat of power there. The place is now called Kagarol but Alexander Cunningham and his assistant A. C. L. Carlleyle are of the view that it was originally Kaga Ror or Khangar Ror (after the name of Ror King Khangar) and later got corrupted to the present Kagarol. This princely state based at Kaga Ror had 52 forts in the Agra area and was lost to the Turks in the times of Qutbuddin Aibak. Prithvi Raj Chauhan became the ruler of Delhi with the support of the Rors and he gave big chunks of Haryana and North Rajasthan to Balda gotra Rors as well as Mehla gotra Rors. In the Battle of Tarain, there were as many as seven Ror generals in Chauhan's army and it does not come as a surprise that they claim Rai Pithora to be one of their own blood. Rai Hari Ram Kadian, Bhup Singh Mehla, Pulhan Rai from Jhansi were all Ror generals in Chauhan's army and another notable person from this community was a lady called Kirpi, who led a battalion of women in the very same fashion as the Rani of Jhansi much later. A huge portion of the Indian Army, which was caught unawares by deceit in the wee hours of the morning by invaders who did not respect the Hindu code of war that does not allow for attack before sunrise, was made of Ror warriors.

The Ror connection with Chittor is very old and an eternal monument to the Ror-Mewar relationship is the "thikana" of BhainsRor, which is named after Rors. This is a lasting proof of the ascendancy of Rors around Mewar as scholars believe BhainsRor has been inhabited and fortified since the 2nd century BC at least. Raja Gandharv Sen, the father of "Samrat" Vikramaditya I and the King of Malwa, was the person who built the fort back then. Gandharv Sen is also called Gardabharupa as well as Gardabhilla as also Raja Gaj in the local tongue at different places.^[24] In the golden era of their history, the Rors had built many forts and a few of them still maintain their names like Behror near Alwar, Dadror, Kahror near Multan and Kaga Ror, a name that has got corrupted to Kagarol and is located near present-day Fatehpur Sikri.

Battle of Badli[link]

In 1207 AD Chanda Rawal (name in a similar tradition as that of Bappa Rawal) was the King in Badli, Jhajjar. Rors had been ruling from this seat for more than a thousand years since Rudradaman I and his 150 AD campaign against the Yaudheya Kshatriyas. But times had suddenly turned hostile with the Turks having got the better of Prithviraj Chauhan and the Hindu army by deceitfully attacking in the early hours of dawn when the Indian army was still sleeping on the banks of the Ghaggar. The Turks under the Slave Qutbuddin Aibak were particularly nasty and demanded 'dola' from all the kings around Delhi in order to rub salt into the festering wounds left by an undeserving defeat. They demanded the Rawal's daughter and the Rors refused stoutly.

The Turks immediately laid a siege to Badli and the battle started in Samvat 1265 (AD 1207). It was a long siege and the Rors did not give ground to the forces of Aibak. All the Ror clans poured into Badli from their nearby seats of Dadror, Behror and Kaga Ror to fight against the Turks and Kachhwaha king Malaya Si, son of Pajjuna, sent 31 sons of his own to help defeat the invaders. After a year of unending warfare, the Turks scored a break as the "Raj-Purohit" defected and told them to attack on Govardhan Puja just before the festival of Diwali. The Turks attacked on Govardhan Puja when all the warriors were worshipping their weapons after collecting them in the center of the fort. The invaders massacred the unarmed Kshatriyas by staying true to their deceitful nature yet again.^[25]

Bardic as well as vernacular records indicate that 84 men had been smuggled out by Ror elders to ensure that some people survived to call themselves Ror even after this holocaust. These 84 Rors, who were thus made to leave the scene of the carnage at Badli, settled down in the dense Dhak Jungles of present-day Karnal and Kurukshetra districts in the 84 villages, which still comprise the nucleus of the entire Ror population. The rest of them embraced martyrdom following their traditional customs of Jauhar and Saka. Such a sanguine move to save a small nucleus has many parallels in our history. Maharana Hammir's father with other relatives was smuggled out during the first siege of Chittor when the Jauhar of Rani Padmini took place. Eighty four Ror clan names are derived from the names of these survivors of the "Battle of Badli" directly.

Revolt of 1857[link]

In the Rebellion of 1857, Rors fought against the British forces in the districts of Karnal and Kurukshetra. This resistance was put up notwithstanding the fact that the population of Rors was recorded as no more than 50,000 in the Census of 1881, nearly 24 years later.

Social status[link]

Haryana[link]

The state of Haryana was a part of the United Punjab province during the period of British rule in India. Sir Denzil Ibbetson classified Rors of United Punjab as one of the "Other dominant tribes", a classification for which his definition was "All those castes which, while hardly less important in their particular territories, are less numerous and less widely distributed than the four great races already specified. Such are the Gakhars and Awans of the Salt Range, the Kharrals and Daudpotras of the Western Plains, the Rors and Dogars of the Eastern Plains, the Meos of Gurgaon and the Gujars of the hills".^[26] The quoted text basically shows that Ibbetson observed the Ror and the other castes mentioned above to be equal in dominance to the mighty Pathans, the Baloch and the Rajputs in their own territory, the only difference being in numbers and the fact that they were found in a limited area rather than all over the Punjab region. Even Blunt, while compiling his work on the caste system in North India, classified Rors with Rajputs and Brahmins in a hierarchy prepared according to the severity of rules regarding the eating of cooked and uncooked food with other castes.^[27]

Western Uttar Pradesh[link]

Writing about the Rajputs or the warrior clans of Western Uttar Pradesh in his book A sociological study of folklore: projected research in Kuru region, the author Satya Prakash Arya speaks thus about them,^[28]

They designate themselves mostly as Chauhans, Tomars, Gahlots, Ranas, Bargujars, Rawas and the Rods. The other fighting castes include the Jats, Ahirs and Gujjars.

Baiswara[link]

Rors are found in parts of Baiswara in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In Baiswara, they are known as Ror Thakurs and are found to be on excellent terms with the Bais Thakurs.^[29]

Bundelkhand[link]

A few villages in Jhansi district have some Ror populations residing there. Some of these villages are Shimla, Bakshiya, Nagarka etc. The Rors living in Bundelkhand are known as Ror Rajputs and share good relations with other Rajput clans of the area.^[30]

Himachal Pradesh[link]

Few villages in Kangra and Hamirpur districts of Himachal have Ror Rajputs residing there. Some of these villages are Bhoda, Draman, Langa, Bhoura etc. The Suryavanshi Ror Rajput clan living in Himachal are known as Patial Rajputs and share good relationship with other Rajput clans of the area.

Character[link]

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Relations with Islamic states[link]

Rors are the only Kshatriya group in India who did not give daughters to either Turks or Mughals.^[31] Furthermore, there is no record of any Ror ever converting to Islam or serving a Mughal/Turk or an Afghan invader in the history of India.^[32]

It has been recorded that Rajputs (67% Hindu, 33% Muslim),^{[citation needed]} Jats (47% Hindu, 33% Muslim)^[33] and Gujjars (77% Hindu, 20% Muslim)^{[citation needed]} are big communities among Muslims. Some in these Kshatriya groups such as Rajputs,^{[citation needed]} Gujjar,^[34] Jats^[35] (Jats who gave daughters were called Akbari and Darbari Jats in Mughal records)^[36] also gave daughters to the Mughals. In similar situations, the Rors decided to fight to the last instead of giving in to the invaders' demands. For this reason, they consider themselves the foremost Vedic Kshatriyas^{[original research?]} and do not intermarry with Rajputs. Rors uphold and cherish the ideals of Maharana Pratap, who in his time had banned intermarriages with those Rajputs who had given their daughters to Mughals.

But these were fearful odds against Pratap. The arms of his country turned upon him, derived additional force from their self-degradation, which kindled into jealousy and hatred against the magnanimous resolution they lacked the virtue to imitate. When Hindu prejudice was thus violated by every prince in Rajasthan, the Rana renounced all matrimonial alliance with those who were thus degraded. To the eternal honour of Pratap and his issue be it told that, to the very close of the monarchy of the Moguls, they refused such alliances not only with the throne, but even with their brother princes of Marwar and Amber. It is a proud triumph of virtue to be able to record from the autograph letters of the most powerful of the Rajput princes, Bukhet Singh and Sawai Jai Singh, that whilst they had risen to greatness by the surrender of principle, as Mewar had decayed from her adherence to it, they should solicit, and that humbly, to be readmitted to the honour of matrimonial intercourse and "to be purified," "to be regenerated," "to be made Rajputs" and that this favour was granted only on condition of their abjuring the contaminating practice (of giving daughters to Mughals) which, for more than a century, had disunited them.

In his Hindi-language book Ror Itihaas ki Jhalak ("Ror history: A glimpse"), the author Dr. Raj Pal Singh states:

The Ror came from Badli in Jhajjar tehsil of Rohtak district after having fought with the Turks, who were led by their slave general Qutbuddin Aibak, upon refusing their demand for 'dola' (women).

Role as arbitrators[link]

Ror elders were considered excellent judges by not just their own brethren but even by the people of other castes. Usually, the problems related to any particular caste were arbitrated upon by its own senior people (the Panch), but if they failed to do so, the elderly Ror in that village played the role of arbitrators and these decisions were accepted as binding.^[37]

Social customs[link]

Religion[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The majority of Rors are Hindus, though many Rors did join the Sikh Panth to fight the Mughals on the request of Guru Gobind Singh. Most of the Sikh Rors are to be found in Kurukshetra and Karnal districts of Haryana. Other than religion, there is little distinction between the two communities, and they intermarry freely. A minority of Rors are followers of Swami Dayanand's Arya Samaj and believe in Yajna and Gayatri.

Child birth[link]

Dashautan ceremony is held after child birth,

Marriage[link]

A mare was given in dowry in marriage. Married Ror women still follow Purdah, which amongst Hindus is only followed by royal families.

Ror women wear Gold jewellery on their feet as a tradition. Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur explains:

Because they respected Gold, ordinary (Rajput) women did not wear gold on their feet. Only if you were of royal blood did you wear gold on your feet and if you were that class you never put on silver.^[38]

Ordinarily, Rajput women and women of all other Kshatriya groups use silver jewellery on their feet.

In considering proposals for marriage, four gotras are excluded by Ror families:

• Own gotra
• Mother's gotra
• Grandmother's gotra
• Maternal Grandmother's gotra

Sati[link]

Ror women were known to perform Sati till late 19th century. Only two Kshatriya groups had this custom, Ror and Rajput. In the 19th century a girl from Amin village, who was married to a man of village Bastara performed Sati. A shrine has been erected at that spot and it can still be seen (being worshipped every year on the eve of Diwali) right on the Grand Trunk Road passing by the village.^[39]Katlaheri, a village on the Karnal-Jind road between Jundla and Pyont, has a shrine dedicated to Sati as well and it is venerated by all Ror families of the village.

Dress and appearance[link]

Ror men wore "Angrakha" and parted their beards in the middle.

Gotra names[link]

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Ror villages are predominantly occupied by just one gotra. Nearly all Ror gotra or clans are listed here:-

Notes[link]

The Nishan of Tomar Rors is same as that of Arjun. The specifics of the Ror House of Tomar are as follows,

• Lineage: Suryavansha
• Colour of throne, sign and canopy: Green * Colour of horse: Yellow
• Heraldic sign (Nishan): Hanuman on flagpole
• Clan Goddess (Kuladaivat): Shakumbari
• Devak (Clan object): Umbar (Ficus racemosa tree)
• Guru: Parashar * Gotra: Nikam
• Veda: Yajurveda * Mantra: Gayatri

See also[link]

• Kaul
• Sangroli
• Katlaheri
• Bhrithari

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Lord Mahavira and His Times, by Kailash Chand Jain, Motilal Banarsidass Publications, ISBN 81-208-0805-3
• Charles Allen & Sharada Dwivedi, Lives of the Indian Princes, ISBN 81-86982-05-1, Pub: Business Publications Inc.

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Julee Cruise
Julee Cruise performing live, 2008
Background information
Born	(1956-12-01) December 1, 1956 (age 55) Creston, Iowa, United States
Genres	Dream pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, french horn
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records WEA International Inc. Avex Asia Ltd. Distinct'ive Records Playhouse Records
Website	Official Myspace

Julee Cruise (born December 1, 1956, Creston, Iowa) is an American singer and actress.

With a distinctive airy voice, Cruise has recorded three albums, but is probably best known for "Falling", the theme song for the cult U.S. television series Twin Peaks. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she collaborated with composer Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch, who produced and wrote the lyrics for all of her released songs.

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Julee Cruise studied French horn at Drake University and performed as a singer and actress in Minneapolis (notably in the role of Jinjur in stage adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books). She moved to New York and played Janis Joplin in a revue called Beehive, whilst also working as a talent scout for Badalamenti.^[1]

Collaborations with Badalamenti and Lynch[link]

[edit] Blue Velvet

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012)

In 1985, Badalamenti was composing the score for David Lynch's Blue Velvet, as well as serving as the vocal coach for the film's star, Isabella Rossellini. A key scene in Blue Velvet was intended to feature This Mortal Coil's version of Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley, but when the rights to the song proved prohibitively expensive, it was suggested that Badalamenti compose a pop song in the same style, with lyrics written by Lynch. Because the song required a vocalist with a haunting, ethereal voice, Badalamenti recommended Cruise, who had sung in a New York theater workshop Badalamenti had produced. The result of their initial collaboration was "Mysteries of Love", which figures prominently in Blue Velvet's closing scenes.

Floating Into The Night[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012)

Badalamenti and Lynch went on to write and produce additional songs for Cruise, most of which were featured in her debut album, Floating Into the Night. The album was released on 12 September 1989 by Warner Bros. Records, and charted on Billboard the following year. It also provided musical material for Lynch's Industrial Symphony No. 1, in which Cruise performed while "floating" from a harness dozens of feet above a stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

[edit] Twin Peaks

The second, more significant project was the soundtrack to Lynch's Twin Peaks, for which Badalamenti composed the original score. The song "Falling", which became the orchestral theme for the television series, caused a minor sensation, winning a Grammy at the 33rd Grammy Awards for Best Pop Instrumental.^[2] The Twin Peaks soundtrack, featuring Cruise on the songs "Into the Night" and "The Nightingale" as well as on the vocal version of "Falling", eventually going gold (500,000+ copies) in the US, a rare feat for a television soundtrack. Cruise made a number of appearances on Twin Peaks as a singer at a local bar, and was prominently featured in both the show's landmark pilot episode and the episode where Laura Palmer's murderer is revealed, as well as in 1992's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The campy but unsettling "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", the second single from Floating Into the Night, was released in 1990 and was also featured in an episode of Twin Peaks.

Cruise reinterpreted and sang the theme song for an episode of the USA Network show Psych. The episode, "Dual Spires" (s05/ep12 12/01/2010) was about a secluded town full of secrets and skeletons were they investigate the murder of a girl. It aired 20 years to the day after Laura Palmer's murder was revealed.

[edit] Saturday Night Live performance

Cruise appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 12, 1990, when scheduled performer Sinéad O'Connor refused to appear on the same show as guest host Andrew Dice Clay.

The Voice of Love[link]

The following year, Cruise recorded a Lynch and Badalamenti produced cover of the Elvis Presley song "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" for the soundtrack of Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World.^[3] Afterward, Cruise maintained a relatively low profile until her second album, The Voice of Love, was released in 1993.

Other information[link]

Cruise's early collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch were closely related to Lynch's film work, and their lyrics often reflect this. For example, "Into the Night" begins with the whispered words "Now it's dark", a line which was repeatedly spoken by Frank Booth, Dennis Hopper's character, in Blue Velvet. Lynch also photographed Cruise for the liner notes of Floating Into the Night and The Voice of Love, and created the sculptures featured on the covers of both albums. The trio also produced a cover of the minor Elvis Presley hit "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" for the celebrated soundtrack to Wim Wenders' 1992 film, "Until the End of the World."

Post Badalamenti and Lynch[link]

The Art of Being a Girl[link]

Cruise's long-delayed third album, The Art of Being a Girl, was released in 2002.^[4] This was the first of her albums for which Badalamenti and Lynch did not produce or write any of the music, with music and lyrics for each of the songs being written by Cruise herself (with the exception of an updated version of her classic single "Falling") and guest produced by Rick Strom and Mocean Worker.

Acting and live work[link]

Cruise also acted and sang in the off Broadway cast of Return to the Forbidden Planet, a spoof of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and toured with The B-52's as Cindy Wilson's replacement on and off from 1992 through 2000. She also performed regularly with Bobby McFerrin's improvisational vocal group Voicestra/CircleSong.

She appeared as Andy Warhol (among other characters, including Susan Sontag) in the 2004 Keith Haring bio-musical Radiant Baby (musical) at the Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival, directed by George C. Wolfe.

Guest vocals[link]

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Cruise has also lent her vocals to works by a miscellaneous list of collaborators, mostly in electronic music.

She provided vocals and lyrics to several of the songs on Wide Angle (1999), the debut album by Welsh electronic music group Hybrid, notably the epic nuskool breaks track "If I Survive". Also in 1999, she performs on two songs on Don't Panic! by DJ Silver, ""Sweet Dreams" and "I'm Your Girl".

She appeared on the albums 1-900-Get-Khan (1999) and No Comprendo (2001) by dance artist Khan (Can Oral), and also performed live several times with him. The lyrics for many of these songs, such as "Body Dump", reflect Cruise's own interest in true crime.

She was featured in 2 songs on Supa DJ Dmitry's (formerly of Deee-Lite) album Scream Of Consciousness (2000), "Don't Talk Me Down" (originally issued on TVT 7311-0 12") and a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity".

She appears on a number of tracks on both the 2003 album Dreams Top Rock and the 2007 album Monstrous Surplus by German post-rock act, Pluramon.

More recently, Cruise has appeared as a guest vocalist on Sarcast While, the 2006 full-length album from the New York band, Time of Orchids, released on Tzadik Records. Her vocals also appear on five tracks on Kenneth Bager's 2006 album Fragments From A Space Cadet.

Cruise provides the vocals for Delerium's "Magic" song (on the Chimera album). Cruise also provided vocals alongside Pharrell on Handsome Boy Modeling School's song "Class System".

Cover versions, film soundtracks and adverts[link]

Cruise has recorded several memorable covers over the years, including Sir Cliff Richard's "Wired for Sound" with B(if)tek, R.E.M.'s "It's The End of the World (and I Feel Fine)" with Eric Kupper, Eurythmics's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" with DJ Silver, and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with Supa DJ Dmitry.

In 1996, Cruise with The Flow appeared on the Scream soundtrack with the song "Artificial World (Interdimensional Mix)".

In 2001, Cruise contributed two exclusive tracks to the "Nutcracker: An American Nightmare" soundtrack CD Maxi-single, "In Your World Of Blue" and "Never Let You Go".

In 2003, Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore included a cover version of Cruise's song "In My Other World" (from her 1993 album The Voice of Love) on Counterfeit², the second in his series of cover albums dedicated to his own musical influences and atmospheric inspirations.

In 2003, Cruise's song "The World Spins" was featured in an extended ballet sequence in Robert Altman's The Company.

Cruise's song "Floating" was featured in TV advertisements and trailers for the show The Riches debuting on FX Networks in March 2007. The next year her music was used in CSI Miami and most recently in an upcoming episode of "Psych."

In 2009, her digital-only album "My Secret Life" with collaborator DJ Dmitry contained a cover of Donovan's "Season Of The Witch" and a cover (technically) of Hybrid's "Fatal Beating" called "A Fatal Beating".

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Floating into the Night (1989)
• The Voice of Love (1993)
• The Art of Being a Girl (2002)
• My Secret Life (2009, with DJ Dmitry)

Singles[link]

Collaborations[link]

• Khan (single, "Say Goodbye")
• Hybrid
• Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks soundtrack)
• Moby
• The B-52's
• Mocean Worker
• David Lynch
• B(if)tek
• Bobby McFerrin
• Kenneth Bager
• Ror Shak
• Delerium
• "Class System" w/ Handsome Boy Modeling School (Prince Paul & Dan The Automator)- White People (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Grant, S. (1990), 'Mood Awakening' - Time Out article from October 17-24 1990
• Official Myspace
• Julee Cruise at the Internet Movie Database