Linda Perhacs, the folk singer-songwriter who found cult fame decades after the release of her 1970 debut, Parallelograms, has been reported missing. A group of her friends and longtime collaborators—including her former manager Laurel Stearns, Julia Holter, and DubLab co-founder Mark “Frosty” McNeill—have shared a statement online in hopes of finding the 82-year-old musician after last hearing from her eight months ago. They’re asking for anyone with information regarding Perhacs’ location or well-being to contact Stearns at lstearns@primarywave.com.
Stearns and friends last saw Perhacs eight months ago at an assisted living facility in San Fernando Valley, California, where she had resided for the past eight years. At some point, Perhacs was discharged under the supervision of her caregivers. The musician and her legal guardians have not returned any of the repeated attempts at contact.
Stearns was Perhacs’ manager from 2013 to 2016, having worked on the release of her 2014 sophomore album The Soul of All Natural Things, and remains a longtime friend. “The most important thing is to make sure that she’s safe and she’s comfortable,” she told Pitchfork over the phone.
Speaking with Pitchfork, Stearns confirmed that she filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department on June 6. The police reportedly investigated, but could not relay Perhacs’ status to Stearns or any other of Perhacs’ friends because they’re not legally tied to the musician, be it as family members or a caregiver with power of attorney. (Pitchfork has contacted LAPD about the status of the missing persons report.)
After her debut LP was rediscovered in the 2000s, Perhacs was sampled by everyone from Daft Punk to Nas, and become an unlikely hero for artists like Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom, and Devendra Banhart during the freak-folk movement. Perhacs released her third and most recent album, I’m a Harmony, in 2017. Like with her 2014 album, it featured collaborations with Holter and further pushed the boarders of her sound.