Vivian Trimble, a multi-instrumentalist and singer best known for her 1990s work with Luscious Jackson, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer, a rep for the band confirms to Variety. She was 59.
A dancer and choreographer as well as a musician, Trimble (pictured above, far right, with the group in 1995), also released collaboration albums with Luscious Jackson singer-bassist Jill Cunniff in 1995 as the Kostars, and an album with Breeders bassist Josephine Wiggs as Dusty Trails, which featured guest vocals from Emmylou Harris.
Born to classical musicians, Trimble was raised in France and the U.S. and spoke three languages. She attended Oberlin College and met Cunniff in 1991 when both were teaching GED adult education classes in New York.
Cunniff had formed Luscious Jackson with her longtime friend Gabrielle Glaser and recorded the group’s debut EP, “In Search of Manny,” with Kate Schellenbach — an original member of the Beastie Boys in their early days as a punk-rock group — joining on drums. The group signed with the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal independent label and released the EP in 1993, with Trimble joining shortly thereafter, focusing primarily on keyboards and backing vocals.
The group was a major alternative act of the 1990s, releasing three albums, playing the Lollapalooza and all-female Lilith Fair tours, guest-hosting MTV’s “120 Minutes” and other highlights of the era. Their most commercially successful album was 1996’s “Fever in Fever Out,” which was certified gold and featured their biggest single, “Naked Eye.” Trimble left the group in 1998 and released the Dusty Trails album with Wiggs in 2000; Luscious Jackson released one more album before splitting for several years, although Cunniff, Glaser and Schellenbach reunited for a 2013 album, “Magic Hour,” and have toured occasionally in the years since.
Trimble is survived by her husband, David, and two children, Nathaniel and Rebecca.