Vivian Trimble, founding member, vocalist and keyboard player with ‘90s indie rock outfit Luscious Jackson, died Tuesday (April 4) following a years-long battle with cancer. She was 58.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved friend and band member Viv on Tuesday,” reads a message posted on the band’s official social channels.
Trimble had been receiving treatment for cancer for several years and had developed a complication on Monday, the message continues.
“We were not expecting this,” reads the tribute, signed by the band’s surviving members Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar), Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), and Kate Schellenbach (drums). “She was a great friend and a gifted musician and choreographer, but it was being a partner to David and a mother to Nate and Rebecca that gave her the greatest joy.”
Formed in New York City back in 1991, the group released an EP, and three LPs through the Beastie Boys’ now-defunct Grand Royal label.
Debut album Natural Ingredients, from 1994, was an underground hit, causing ripples on Australia’s Triple J network and earning the group a spot on the traveling Big Day Out lineup in 1995. It was around this time that Trimble and Cunniff formed a side-project, Kostars, which released the 1996 collection Klassics with a “K”.
Luscious Jackson’s breakthrough proper would come with 1996’s “Naked Eye,” a song that spread the globe. Lifted from their sophomore album Fever In Fever Out, “Naked Eye” gave the group their first and only Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 36) and Official U.K. Singles Chart top 40 appearances (peaking at No. 25 in 1997).
Other singles included “Deep Shag/Citysong,” “Here,” “Ladyfingers,” and “Love Is Here” from the soundtrack to the feature film, A Life Less Ordinary.
Luscious Jackson’s heyday would include a slot on Lollapalooza, appearances on Saturday Night Live, MTV’s 120 Minutes, and more.
Trimble left the band in 1998, prior to the release of a third album, 1999’s Electric Honey, their final studio set issued through Grand Royale. Two years later, Trimble and ex-Breeders bandmate Josephine Wiggs formed a project, Dusty Trails, and released a self-titled album.
The band would split in 2000, with a Greatest Hits released in 2007 through Capitol/EMI. The trio of Glaser, Cunniff and Schellenbach reunited in 2013 for the album Magic Hour, following by a children’s album, Baby DJ.
“We are devastated beyond words to lose our graceful sister,” writes Gabby, Jill, and Kate.
