Mojo Nixon, Who Mixed Roots and Punk Rock, Dies at 66

Mojo Nixon, the rabble-rousing psychobilly musician and radio host who shot to fame with his satirical 1987 hit “Elvis Is Everywhere,” died on Wednesday aboard a country music cruise that he was co-hosting. He was 66.

His death was confirmed by Matt Eskey, the director of a 2020 documentary film about Mr. Nixon. He said that Mr. Nixon had a “cardiac event” while he was asleep as the Outlaw Country Cruise was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A statement posted by the film’s official Facebook page said that Mr. Nixon had died “after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar, taking no prisoners.”

Mr. Nixon was best known for his celebrity spoofs, like “Don Henley Must Die” and “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child,” and for satirical tirades like “I Hate Banks” and “Destroy All Lawyers.” “All of it was performed in maximum overdrive on a bed of rockabilly, blues, and R&B, which earned Nixon some friends in the roots rock community but had enough punk attitude — in its own bizarre way — to make him a college radio staple during his heyday,” the All Music Guide wrote.

“I’m a rabble-rouser who does humorous social commentary within a rock-and-roll setting,” he told The New York Times in 1990.

“Elvis Is Everywhere” and its video got the attention of MTV, which made him an occasional host in 1988.

Mr. Nixon, born Neil Kirby McMillan Jr., is survived by his wife Adaire McMillan, sons Rafe Cannonball McMillan and Ruben McMillan, granddaughter Avery Frances McMillan, sister Jane Holden McMillan and brother Arthur Reese McMillan, Mr. Eskey said.