Eric Emerson (June 23, 1945 – May 28, 1975) was an American musician, dancer, and actor. Emerson is best known as a

Warhol superstar Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and 1970s. These personalities hung out at Warhol's studio, the Factory, appeared in his films, and accompanied him to his New ...

and as a member of the seminal

glam punk Glam punk is a music genre that began in the early to mid-1970s and incorporates elements of proto-punk and glam rock. The genre was pioneered by the New York Dolls, who influenced the formation of other New York City groups the Stilettos, the ...

group the Magic Tramps.

Career

Growing up in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Emerson trained as a classic ballet dancer. It was this talent that caught the eye of artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol. After seeing Emerson dancing at The Dom in April 1966, Warhol asked Emerson to be in one of his

underground films An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's ''Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's ''Tal ...

. Emerson made his film debut in 1967's ''

Chelsea Girls ''Chelsea Girls'' is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short). I ...

'', and soon became a

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

regular. Emerson starred in other Warhol films, most notably ''

Lonesome Cowboys ''Lonesome Cowboys'' is a 1968 American Western drama film directed by Andy Warhol, and written and produced by Paul Morrissey. A satire of Hollywood Westerns, it was initially screened in November 1968 at the San Francisco International Film ...

'', '' San Diego Surf'', and ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

''. ''Heat'' would be Emerson's last film. Emerson began his musical career with The Magic Tramps. The band, which began in Hollywood in 1969, relocated to New York City in 1971 after Emerson joined as lead vocalist. The Magic Tramps played under various names, including Messiah and Star Theater, and played gigs at

Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Dece ...

, a favorite hangout among Factory regulars. They were one of the early bands to play at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

. Later that year, Emerson appeared in

Jackie Curtis Jackie Curtis (born John Curtis Holder Jr.; February 19, 1947 – May 15, 1985) was an American underground actor, singer, and playwright best known as a Warhol superstars, Warhol superstar. Primarily a stage actor in New York City, Curtis per ...

' play ''Vain Victory: Vicissitudes of the Damned'', with Ondine,

Holly Woodlawn Holly Woodlawn (October 26, 1946 – December 6, 2015) was an American actress and Warhol superstar who appeared in the films '' Trash'' (1970) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971). She is also known as the Holly in Lou Reed's hit glam rock song " Wal ...

, and

Candy Darling Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol superstar. She was a pioneer for transgender visibility, inspiring songs by the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed. Her performances Andy Warhol's f ...

, and music by the Magic Tramps and

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

Album cover lawsuit

When the debut album of ''

The Velvet Underground and Nico ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground and the German singer Nico. Released by Verve Records in March 1967, the album underperformed in sales and polarized critics upon releas ...

'' was first issued, the main back cover photo (taken at an

Exploding Plastic Inevitable The ''Exploding Plastic Inevitable'', sometimes simply called ''Plastic Inevitable'' or ''EPI'', was a series of multimedia gesamtkunstwerk events organized by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by th ...

performance) featured an image of Emerson projected upside-down on the wall behind the band. Emerson threatened to sue over this unauthorized use of his image unless he was paid. Rather than complying, MGM recalled copies of the album and halted its distribution until Emerson's image could be airbrushed from the photo on subsequent pressings. Copies that had been printed were sold with a large black sticker covering the actor's image. The image was restored for the 1996 CD reissue.

Personal life

Emerson's

bisexuality Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, ...

was well known within Warhol's circle and he had relationships with many of the Factory regulars. It was known at the Factory that Billy Smith, Warhol's social publicist, was very close to Emerson. When Emerson's father accused his son of being "a little sweet", Emerson responded by saying, "What he don't understand is that my generation can swing both ways". On July 21, 1969, Emerson agreed to marry

in a mock wedding. When Emerson failed to show up, Curtis married a wedding guest. The wedding, which was a publicity stunt arranged by Curtis, was covered by ''The Village Voice''. Emerson had three children from prior relationships. He had a daughter Erica in 1967, a son, Branch Emerson, with Stilettos singer Elda Gentile. In 1971, Emerson and fellow Warhol superstar

Jane Forth Jane Forth (born March 4, 1953) is an American actress, model, and make-up artist. She is best known for having been a Warhol superstar, starring in the films '' Trash'' (1970) and '' L'Amour'' (1972). She was also one of “Antonio’s Girls”, a ...

had a son, Emerson Forth. At the time of his death, Emerson was living with Barbara Winter, ex-wife of musician

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American multi-instrumentalist, working as a vocalist along with playing keyboards, saxophone, and percussion. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group and their pop ...

Death

On May 28, 1975, Emerson's body was found next to his bicycle, near the

West Side Highway The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from 72nd Street (Manhattan), West 72nd Street along the Hudso ...

in Manhattan. Emerson's death is listed officially as a

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the criminal act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there ma ...

. He was 29 years old. To date, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with his death. Following a weekend-long wake hosted by Max's Kansas City owner Mickey Ruskin, Emerson was buried in

Wharton, New Jersey Wharton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,241, an increase of 719 (+11.0%) from the 2010 United St ...

. After Emerson's death, various reports surfaced that he was not killed in a hit and run accident, but overdosed on heroin in a different location, and was dumped as a staged hit and run.Watson, Steven, ''Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties'', Pantheon Books, 2003, . page 427 These reports have never been substantiated, and Emerson's official cause of death never has been changed. In the book ''Making Tracks'',

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

provided an account of the circumstances surrounding Emerson's death:

One night we were over at Eric's apartment working on a tape of " Heart of Glass" on his Teac four-track tape recorder, when he suddenly staggered out of the kitchen looking ashen. He looked even more distraught and sad when we left. Being satisfied drove him crazy in the end, because he had everything so he didn't care about anything anymore. He used to go out jogging every day, and did feats of physical endurance like strapping twenty-pound weights to each ankle and then bicycling up to the Factory. The next day we were sitting around the house just after we woke up when Barbara called with the bad news. "Oh, Eric got hit by a truck." He had been a good friend and inspiration to so many people. We didn't quite understand what had happened, but we went up to a party/wake held for him and saw a lot of people from the earlier glitter days. Eric's death definitely marked an end to the glitter period. We still miss him.

References

External links

*
The Magic Tramps Official Site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Eric Male actors from New Jersey American male dancers American male film actors American male stage actors Bisexual male musicians Bisexual dancers American bisexual male actors American bisexual musicians American LGBTQ dancers LGBTQ people from New Jersey Musicians from New Jersey Road incident deaths in New York City 1945 births 1975 deaths Place of birth unknown Male actors from New York City 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American LGBTQ people People associated with The Factory Cycling road incident deaths