LUX INTERIOR :: OCT 21, 1946 - FEB 4, 2009

Erick Lee Purkhiser R.I.P.

(October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009),

better known as Lux Interior...

...("luxury interior") was an American punk rock musician and a founding member of the legendary garage/punk band The Cramps.

Born in Stow, Ohio, he grew up in the Akron area with a brother, Mike Purkhiser.^[1] He met his wife Kristy Wallace, better known as Poison Ivy, in Sacramento in 1972 allegedly while she was hitchhiking. ^[2] The couple founded the band and moved from California to Ohio in 1973 and then to New York in 1975 where they became part of the flourishing punk scene.^[3].

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".^[2] The couple called their musical style psychobilly, originally claiming it to have been inspired by a Johnny Cash song, and later saying that they just using the phrase as "carny terms to drum up business."

Purkhiser died at 4:30am on February 4, 2009, in Glendale, California of a pre-existing heart condition^[4].

source: wikipedia