Lux Interior
Erick Lee Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009), better known by the stage name Lux Interior, was an American singer-songwriter and a founding member of the American rock band the Cramps from 1976 until his death in 2009 at age 62.
Lux Interior

Jorge Correa from Madrid, Spain. · lux interior en acción · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Lux Interior
- Birth Name
- Erick Lee Purkhiser
- Born
- 21 October 1946
- Birthplace
- Akron, Ohio, U.S.
- Died
- 4 February 2009
- Place of death
- Glendale, California, U.S.
- Full name
- Erick Lee Purkhiser.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- singer, songwriter, composer and musician.
- Fields
- punk rock.
- Education
- Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Erick Lee Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009), better known by the stage name Lux Interior, was an American singer-songwriter and a founding member of the American rock band the Cramps from 1976 until his death in 2009 at age 62.
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Note VALÉORINE
Lux Interior (1946–2009) was an American composer, musician and singer, among other activities. Born Erick Lee Purkhiser in Akron, the composer died in Glendale. Lux Interior studied at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
Genres include punk rock. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q2592889 · wikipedia · Lux Interior
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lux Interior • Birth Name — Erick Lee Purkhiser • Alias — Lux Interior, Raven Beauty, Vip Vop • Born — 21 October 1946 • Birthplace — Akron, Ohio, U.S. • Died — 4 February 2009 • Place of death — Glendale, California, U.S. • Genre — * Psychobilly • gothabilly • Instrument — * Vocals • harmonica • percussion • Years Active — 1972–2009 • Label — Vengeance • Past Member Of — The Cramps • Website — www.thecramps.com
Early life
Early life
Born in Akron, Ohio, he grew up in its nearby suburb of Stow and graduated from Stow High School.
Career
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
Style
• Illustration — Lux Interior performing in 2004. 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: It's a little bit like asking a junkie how he's been able to keep on dope all these years--it's just so much fun. You pull into one town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' And you go to a bar and have a great rock 'n' roll show and go to the next town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.' It's hard to walk away from all that. 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
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.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
Lux Interior was recorded at birth as Erick Lee Purkhiser. He also worked under the name Lux Interior. His recorded language was English.

Lux Interior at Lokeren, Belgium 9/8/2006
The_Cramps_live_in_Belgium,_2006.jpg: Yves Lorson from Kapellen, Belgium derivative work: JD554 (talk) · The_Cramps_live_in_Belgium,_2006.jpg

The Cramps (Lux Interior on vocals, Poison Ivy on guitar) perform at Larry's Hideaway in Toronto, June 14, 1982
Canada Jack aka Jeremy Gilbert
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2009
Lux Interior died at Glendale.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Akron.
Birth place
Glendale.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Petkovic, John. Appreciation: Akron-born garage rocker Lux Interior was the king of trash-culture. The Plain Dealer. February 5, 2009.
- 2.Leibrock, Rachel. Cramps singer Lux Interior dies at 60. The Sacramento Bee. February 4, 2009.
- 3.Whiteside, Jonny. Lux Interior's Astral Ascension. LA Weekly. March 12, 2009.
- 4.Johnston, Ian. The Wild Wild World of The Cramps. Omnibus Press. 1990.
- 5.Breen, Meagan. An Introspective into Gothabilly. Auxiliary Magazine. 2009-03-05.
- 6.Uutela, Deanna. Case of the Zombies. Eugene Weekly. 2007-10-04.
- 7.Male, Andrew. Lux Interior: October 21, 1946 - February 4, 2009. Mojo.
- 8.Gorgonetta: B/w photo of Lux Interior on stage, fellating a microphone. Gorgonetta.tumblr.com. July 10, 2012.
- 9.Sexy Microphone Pictures. Gearslutz.com. 2005.
- 10.Brown, August. Lux Interior dies at 60; founder, front man of punk band the Cramps. Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2009.
- 11.Sisario, Ben. Lux Interior, 62, Singer in the Punk-Rock Era, Is Dead. The New York Times. February 5, 2009.
- 12.Banerji, Atreyi. The Cramps founder Lux Interior once appeared on 'SpongeBob SquarePants'. February 4, 2021.
- 13.Sclavunos, James. Obituaries 2009: Lux Interior. The Guardian. December 13, 2009.
- 14.1980s: A New Scene Takes Hold - Post-Punk. Cleveland.com. 2015.
- 15.Abram, Malcolm X. Sibling recalls Lux Interior, punk icon. Ohio.com. February 11, 2009.
- 16.Lux Interior : In Memoriam. Trebuchet. 2013.
References
Citations
References
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Lux Interior studied at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
The recorded source classes are reference work. Every statement above restates one of those records; where they are silent, this article is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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