Q Lazzarus
American singer (1960–2022)
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.
Early life
On December 12, 1960, Diane Luckey, who was of African American heritage, was born in Neptune Township, New Jersey, the youngest of seven children.
While attending the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Neptune as a child, she sang in the Mount Pisgah Youth Choir.
In 1976, at the age of 15, Luckey was inspired by a Broadway production of Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976) to pursue a music career. She followed up on her dream after graduating from Neptune High School in 1979, moving to New York City at the age of 18.
Early career
After moving to New York in the late 1970s, Luckey soon started working as a backup singer and jingle writer at Sigma Sound Studios.
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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Q Lazzarus” is american singer (1960–2022). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lazzarus, American and singer, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american singer (1960–2022)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q458884. VIAF identifies the subject as 83490847. The Library of Congress control number is n2009017039. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960, 2022, 1988 and 1991.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Q Lazzarus”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Q Lazzarus primary sources, Q Lazzarus archive and Lazzarus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Q Lazzarus”?
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- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Q Lazzarus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.