Teresa Taylor, who played drums with the Texas punk band the Butthole Surfers and became the face of slacker Austin, died Sunday of complications from lung disease. She was 60.
Teresa Taylor passed away peacefully this weekend after a long battle with lung disease. She will live in our hearts forever. RIP, dear friend.
— Butthole Surfers (@buttholesurfers) June 19, 2023
Pictured here with Mark Farner. Photo by @PatBlashill #TeresaTaylor #TeresaNervosa pic.twitter.com/Mn74aqzeK1
Taylor, who went by the stage name Teresa Nervosa, met the Butthole Surfers when she was a student at UT Austin in the Radio, Television and Film Department. She joined the band in 1983 after sub-leasing a rehearsal space to them.
Taylor toured and recorded extensively with the band before leaving in 1989. In 2008, she told The Austin Chronicle’s Austin Powell she didn’t want to quit, but she wasn't feeling well.
"I was flipping out, drinking too much and all that," she said. "I had developed a really big fear of flying. I always thought the plane was going to crash. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I started taking Prozac and trying to get better, trying to find someone who could help me."
Taylor would later be diagnosed with light-induced seizures and a brain aneurysm.
She did tour with the band one more time, in 2008.
In addition to her work with the Butthole Surfers, Taylor was known for her role as the woman trying to sell what she claimed was Madonna’s pap smear in Richard Linklater’s 1991 film Slacker. The scene is one of the most memorable in the movie, and the image of her in sunglasses wearing a black baseball cap with the brim upturned would be used in promotional posters.
That same image also lived on a mural on the side of I Luv Video on Airport Boulevard for years before it was torn down.
On Nov. 21, 2021, Taylor announced on Facebook that she was entering hospice.
She was taken care of by longtime partner Cheryl Curtice, who let people know of her death on Monday.
King Coffey, whom she drummed with in the Butthole Surfers, remembered her on his Facebook page:
“We'll always love you, Teresa. You could make things better by simply walking into the room. Everyone was drawn to your charisma, talent, and wicked sense of humor. I learned so much from you (like how to play drums, and which Robert Altman films to watch). But mostly, you made what should have been tough times fun by simply being yourself.
The band would like to thank Cheryl Curtice for caring for Teresa during her final years. Her love allowed Teresa to live her life on her own terms, and we are so very grateful.”
