Cristina (singer)

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Cristina Monet-Palaci^[1] (b. 1959), known professionally as Cristina, is a singer and writer, best known for her No Wave recordings made for ZE Records around 1980 in New York.

A Harvard drop-out^[2], and the daughter of a French psychoanalyst and an American illustrator-novelist-playwright, she was working as a writer for The Village Voice when she met Michael Zilkha, who later became her husband^[3]. A wealthy heir to England's Mothercare retail empire, Zilkha was just starting ZE Records with Michel Esteban. Zilkha persuaded her to record a song called Disco Clone, an eccentric pastiche dance record which featured the uncredited Kevin Kline trying to seduce the breathy Cristina^[3]. According to some sources^[4], the record was produced by John Cale and was the first to be issued on the ZE label.

"Disco Clone" was a cult success and encouraged ZE to release a full-length album in 1980, which was produced by August Darnell (aka Kid Creole)^[3]. This contained the poker-faced cover of Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?" with new lyrics which led its authors, Leiber and Stoller, to sue and get it withdrawn for many years^[2]. The album was later reissued as Doll in the Box. Cristina also released a single with a cover of the Beatles' "Drive My Car"

Cristina's second album, Sleep It Off, was produced by Don Was and released in 1984 with a sleeve design by Jean-Paul Goude (a year before he used the same idea for Grace Jones). Her lyrics dryly detailed a world of urban decadence, but the record flopped, and Cristina retired to domestic life in Texas. She and Zilkha divorced in 1990 and she returned to New York^[3]. She has more recently contributed learned essays and reviews to publications such as London's Times Literary Supplement, while battling a debilitating illness^[3]. Her two albums for ZE were reissued in 2005^[5].

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