Nymphs singer Inger Lorre, the star best known for urinating on the desk of an A&R man at Geffen Records, has died at 61, reportedly of cervical cancer.
Her death was confirmed by her label, Kitten Robot Records.
“We are saddened to say goodbye to our beloved friend and artist Inger Lorre,” the label wrote in a Facebook post. “Inger, born Lori Ann Wening, passed on October 16 from complications due to recently diagnosed cancer. Her mother, Lois Wening, also passed on October 4; both are confirmed by Jen Wening, Inger’s sister.
“Inger was an accomplished singer, songwriter, recording artist, painter and a lover of animals. A singularly unique artist, both visually and musically, Inger first came to national attention with her band Nymphs, was released by Geffen Records in 1991.
“Her career as a solo artist began with Transcendental Medication‘, released by Triple X in 1999. Kitten Robot released her final album, Gloryland, just last year. Our condolences go out to Jen and her family and to her many friends and fans.”
Lorre was born in Matawan, New Jersey, in 1963. The band moved to Los Angeles and caught the attention of Tom Zutaut, the A&R man who signed Guns ‘N Roses to Geffen. Unhappy with the band’s lack of momentum, Lorre (reportedly with the label’s PR assisting) stood on Zutaut’s desk and urinated in front of the astonished exec.
UPDATE: Zutaut has posted a farewell message on Facebook:
The Nymphs’ self-titled first album came out in October 1991, with an EP, A Practical Guide to Astral Projection, released the following year.
Lorre was fired by the band in late 1992. She would go on to record with Jeff Buckley, singing Angel Mine with him on the Jack Kerouac tribute album Kicks Joy Darkness. She appeared again on Thief Without The Take.
Her debut solo album, Transcendental Medication, came out in 1999. Also on that album was She’s Not Your Friend, a song dissing Courtney Love, who’d incurred her ire by including an answering machine message from Inger on Sassy, a song from Hole’s 1991 album, Pretty On The Inside.
Lorre was off the radar until 2017’s Live At The Viper Room, then finished with her first studio album in 24 years, Glorybound, in 2023.
“It was really the fans that brought me back, because I’m still afraid of the industry, the corporate machine,” Lorre told Classic Rock. “But you’ve got to keep it positive because the world is so freakin’ dark right now. I felt like I needed to help heal some of the sadness. It was climate change and covid, everyone was committing suicide, everyone on fentanyl. I don’t know if the world has ever been in a darker place. But there’s something about it where I just needed to hold on to hope.
“I thought I was completely forgotten, just a has-been train wreck, drug-addled loser that the industry had spit out. This has given me a whole new reason to live. I’ve always had a plan, and I don’t have one now. I guess that’s the new plan. Just whatever life throws up. All opportunities are open, and we’ll take all the opportunities.”