Lux Interior

Erick Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009) better known as Lux Interior, was an American singer and a founding member of the legendary garage punk band The Cramps from 1973 until his death in February 2009.

Born in Stow, Ohio, he grew up in the Akron area with a brother, Mike Purkhiser. He met his wife Kristy Wallace, better known as Poison Ivy, a.k.a. Ivy Rorschach, in Sacramento in 1972, allegedly while she was hitchhiking. 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.

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, originally claiming it to have been inspired by a Johnny Cash song, and later saying that they were just using the phrase as "carny terms to drum up business."

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