Rik L Rik

By VARIETY STAFF

Rik L Rik, a singer who pioneered the Los Angeles punk rock scene with the band F-Word, died June 30 of brain cancer in Riverside. He was 39.

Rik, whose real name was Richard Elerick, was the front man for F-Word, which was one of the youngest groups to play at the Masque, a punk club in Hollywood.

F-Word's album "Like It or Not" was the first independent punk album from a Los Angeles County group, Masque owner Brendan Mullen said.

Recently, Elerick had been working on recordings with a group called the Celestials.