Woman Sings “Diva Dance” from THE FIFTH ELEMENT Live

Besides the fact that Chris Tucker absolutely ruins the second half of The Fifth Element for me (a police siren up against my ear would be less shrill then his performance), there were some interesting ideas that bounced round Luc Besson’s trail mix of a sci-fi film. One of those ideas was Diva Plavalaguna and her superhuman operatic vocals that punctuates Leeloo’s fight sequence with the Mangalores.

According to the novelization of the film, the Diva’s pipes are so powerful that she sings only once every ten years and the song lasts only five minutes. This idea is reinforced by the seemingly computer-assisted performance in the film, but real-life professional singer Laura Workman McMurtrey proves it’s not impossible for a mere Earthling to accomplish. Though one has to wonder how many times she can sing this before a blood vessel pops.