Lux Interior
Lux Interior - or Erick Lee Purkhiser as his mother liked to call him - has died. He was 60.
The singer, songwriter and founding member of the pioneering New York City horror-punk band the Cramps, died at Glendale Memorial Hospital of a previously-existing heart condition, according to a statement from his publicist.
Born in Stow, Ohio, he grew up in the Akron area with a brother, Mike Purkhiser until he met his future wife, Kristy Wallace, in Sacramento in 1972 allegedly while she was hitchhiking.
Lux and his wife, "Poison" Ivy Rorschach, moved from California to Ohio in 1973 and then to New York in 1975 where they became part of the flourishing punk scene. They then formed the Cramps in 1976 and paired lyrics that expressed their love of B-movie camp with ferocious rockabilly and surf-inspired instrumentation.
The band became a staple of the late '70s Manhattan punk scene emerging from clubs like Max's Kansas City and CBGB and was one of the first acts to realize the potential of punk rock as theatre and spectacle.
Interior's name came "from an old car commercial" while his wife's name change was inspired by "a vision she received in a dream".The couple called their musical style psychobilly which was inspired by a Johnny Cash song though they later said they were just using the term as "carny terms to drum up business"
Often dressed in macabre, gender-bending costumes onstage, Interior evoked a lanky, proto-goth Elvis Presley, and his band quickly became notorious for volatile and decadent live performances.
He was one of the most influential musicians of his time and he will be sorely missed.