So sad.
As the news of Brittany Murphy‘s death earlier this morning continues to work its way through the various social networking sites and media outlets, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work that Murphy had done over the past few years as a recording artist.
It was always a well known fact that Brittany Murphy was working on a debut album. According to reports as far back as 2004, Murphy was booking producers and session singers for studio work on her upcoming release.
In 2006, Murphy went on to collaborate with the highly talented Paul Oakenfold for a song called “Faster Kill Pussycat” off his album, A Lively Mind. “Faster kill, faster still pussycat, I can’t stand to see you cry,” Murphy taunts with a delicious rasp atop a combination of hard, thumping synthesizers and gritty, grinding bursts of electronica.
As a debut release, the track floored me–it was dark, bold, and fearless; a tantalizing taste of what could come of Murphy’s debut. To this day, the song remains one of my favorite songs of the ’00’s. Click here to watch the video for “Faster Kill Pussycat” and celebrate this stunning release once more.
Later that year, Murphy lent her vocals to two tracks on the Happy Feet soundtrack, covers of Queen‘s “Somebody to Love” and Earth, Wind & Fire‘s “Boogie Wonderland.” The songs, as with “Faster Kill Pussycat,” defied all expectations, proving herself a singer with a far better ability to croon than many of the pop starlets on the scene at the time.
In May of 2008, Murphy left a blog note on her MySpace confirming that she had been in the studio with Max Martin, Timbaland, and Paul Oakenfold, assuring fans that the process of her debut was moving slowly because she “needed to make sure that becoming a “pop star” was what i wanted.”
As of 2009, the album still hadn’t come to fruition. Quite sadly, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever hear anything from those lost sessions now.
Brittany Murphy will truly be missed–not only as a wonderful actress, but as the recording artist who could have been.
Rest in peace, Brittany.