Lux Interior
American singer
title: "Lux Interior" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1946-births", "2009-deaths", "psychobilly-musicians", "gothabilly-musicians", "singers-from-ohio", "the-cramps-members", "musicians-from-akron,-ohio", "20th-century-american-singers", "deaths-from-aortic-dissection"] description: "American singer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux_Interior" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American singer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Lux Interior |
| background | solo_singer |
| image | Luxinterior.jpg |
| caption | Lux Interior live, 18 October 2004 |
| birth_name | Erick Lee Purkhiser |
| alias | Lux Interior, Raven Beauty, Vip Vop |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Glendale, California, U.S. |
| genre | {{flatlist |
| instrument | |
| years_active | 1972–2009 |
| label | Vengeance |
| past_member_of | The Cramps |
| website | www.thecramps.com |
| {{infobox person | embed |
| signature | Lux Interior signature.png |
| :: |
| name = Lux Interior | background = solo_singer | image = Luxinterior.jpg | image_size = | caption = Lux Interior live, 18 October 2004 | birth_name = Erick Lee Purkhiser | alias = Lux Interior, Raven Beauty, Vip Vop | birth_date = | birth_place = Akron, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Glendale, California, U.S. | genre = {{flatlist|
- Psychobilly
- gothabilly | occupation = | instrument = | years_active = 1972–2009 | label = Vengeance | past_member_of = The Cramps | website = www.thecramps.com | signature = Lux Interior signature.png
Erick Lee Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009), better known by the stage name Lux Interior, was an American singer and a founding member of the American rock band the Cramps from 1976 until his death in 2009 at age 62.
Early life
Born in Akron, Ohio, he grew up in its nearby suburb of Stow and graduated from Stow High School.
Career
He met his partner Kristy Wallace, better known as Poison Ivy, in Sacramento in 1972, when he and a friend picked her up while she was hitchhiking. The couple founded the band after they moved from California to Ohio in 1973, and then to New York in 1975, where they soon became part of the flourishing punk scene.
Style
Lux Interior's name came "from an old car commercial", after he previously flirted with the names Vip Vop and Raven Beauty, while his wife's name change was inspired by "a vision she received in a dream". The couple called their musical style psychobilly, a word that appears in the lyrics of Johnny Cash's song, "One Piece at a Time", and gothabilly. The band later said that they were just using the phrases as "carny terms to drum up business."
Interior was known for a frenetic and provocative stage show that included high heels, near-nudity and sexually suggestive movements. His speciality was the microphone blow job, where he could get the entire head of an SM-58 microphone into his mouth. The Cramps gave their last show in November 2006.
When asked why he continued to play live well into middle age, he told the LA Times
In 2002 Lux Interior voiced a character on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Party Pooper Pants" – the lead singer of an all-bird rock band called the Bird Brains, performing "Underwater Sun", written and composed by Stephen Hillenburg and Peter Strauss. Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob, attended his memorial ceremony in 2009.
Interior was also a painter (mainly in his college years) and visual artist. In particular he was a 3D camera collector and enthusiast who used his collection to create artworks and collages.
Death
Lux Interior died at 4:30 a.m. on February 4, 2009, at Glendale Memorial Hospital in California. The cause of death was aortic dissection. He was survived by his wife Ivy and two brothers, Michael Purkhiser and Ronald "Skip" Purkhiser, as well as a son from a previous marriage. The memorial service for Lux was held on February 21 at the Windmill Chapel of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine. Lux's brother Michael also provided insight into his relationship with Lux in a newspaper article.
References
References
- Petkovic, John. (February 5, 2009). "Appreciation: Akron-born garage rocker Lux Interior was the king of trash-culture". [[The Plain Dealer]].
- Leibrock, Rachel. (February 4, 2009). "Cramps singer Lux Interior dies at 60". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
- Whiteside, Jonny. (March 12, 2009). "Lux Interior's Astral Ascension". [[LA Weekly]].
- Johnston, Ian. (1990). "The Wild Wild World of The Cramps". Omnibus Press.
- Breen, Meagan. (2009-03-05). "An Introspective into Gothabilly". Auxiliary Magazine.
- Uutela, Deanna. (2007-10-04). "Case of the Zombies". [[Eugene Weekly]].
- Male, Andrew. "Lux Interior: October 21, 1946 - February 4, 2009".
- (July 10, 2012). "Gorgonetta: B/w photo of Lux Interior on stage, fellating a microphone".
- (2005). "Sexy Microphone Pictures".
- Brown, August. (February 4, 2009). "Lux Interior dies at 60; founder, front man of punk band the Cramps". [[Los Angeles Times]].
- Sisario, Ben. (February 5, 2009). "Lux Interior, 62, Singer in the Punk-Rock Era, Is Dead". [[The New York Times]].
- Banerji, Atreyi. (February 4, 2021). "The Cramps founder Lux Interior once appeared on 'SpongeBob SquarePants'".
- Sclavunos, James. (December 13, 2009). "Obituaries 2009: Lux Interior". [[The Guardian]].
- (2015). "1980s: A New Scene Takes Hold - Post-Punk".
- Abram, Malcolm X. (February 11, 2009). "Sibling recalls Lux Interior, punk icon".
- (2013). "Lux Interior : In Memoriam".
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